Lost and Found: The Noble Six Chronicles (Read Most Recent Chapter!)
by RichardHusky
Summary: Beginning one week before the events of Halo: CE, Noble Six has managed to survive through his survival skill and his keen aim, albeit overwhelmed by shellshock and the loss of his squad. Roused to his feet by a voice with no face, Six is now on a new mission; A personal vendetta to take the fight back to the Covenant. If it were so easy... (Cover is pencil-drawn by me)
1. Lone Wolf

**Hello, and welcome to my first fanfic ever! I take great pride in my work, and you will most likely not find any spelling errors. I like telling stories, and my fanfics, be it this one or any I make in the future, try to tell rich stories that make sense. For this one in particular I will try to stick to the Halo: Reach and Halo: CE stories as well as possible, with a few possible changes, considering the Chief isn't the only Spartan anymore. If I get a fact wrong that you feel is significant, please, write a review of what you think about my fanfic or future fanfics and also add in whatever I did wrong, and I will be sure to correct it.**

**Another quick thing about this series, the Six that I write about is the one that I played. Quick, efficient, socially aggressive and more brawn than brains (Although not by much), my Six is a very broken man. With his friends now gone, Six is more careful, slower to trust others, and is always worried about something. I thought I would add this just so everyone knows what character you're getting to know.**

**Also, I've done extensive research on the Halo series, and I've played through each one on legendary difficulty. Except for Reach. Ironic, I know. The reason that I bring this up is so you understand that I know the timeline and things. Unless you see an error in what I've already typed, please, refrain from giving me information on possible future things (Such as Halo 4 content) unless you think that it is super interesting/a tiny fact that I just might not know.**

**Happy reading!**

**~Husky**

* * *

Two weeks. Two long, excruciating weeks of hiding from Covenant forces. Scavenging. Fighting. He had struggled along ever since the Pillar of Autumn had taken off without him by his order, and he was near his breaking point.

This man was no mere man. He was a legendary soldier, powerfully augmented and super human, taken into the SPARTAN-III program at age twelve as a war orphan. He was tough, and almost indestructible.

Almost.

He may have been a physical tank, but he wasn't void of emotion. Everyone he knew on the planet of Reach had either died or gone from the planet forever. He was the newest addition to Noble Team, but he had survived longer than any of the others had. He had to watch as his friends died around him, one by one, until no one else remained but him. He had set up a camp in an abandoned structure, trying to be as quiet as possible. He was running out of MRE rations and the rest of the Human inhabitants in Aszod left two weeks ago. He had bought hundreds of lives time to escape when he sent them off, and he hoped that it wasn't in vain. He knew he was going to die. He had accepted that fact when the Autumn took off, and he knew that if he was going to die, he wasn't going to go out without a fight.

His helmet's visor had cracked in the first hour from the constant attack, so he simply removed his helmet after he escaped the firefight. He was only able to escape, however, due to his advanced stealth training. As long as he didn't get shot in his face, he was fine, he had said to himself at the time. He still carried it with him, however, in hope that someone would bounce a transmission off of his helmet-integrated radio, locate him and bring him back to civilization. He thought about going back every minute of every day ever since he was left alone. There wasn't a single moment in the past two weeks he wasn't thinking about getting back to base, or even better, going home. His life before the SPARTAN-III program was one he couldn't remember, not now. The only thing he could recall that wasn't a product of the augmentation that he had gone through was how old he was. 27.

He remembered when he turned five. His mother had baked him a little cake all to himself, and his younger brother and sister were still little babies. They were twins. The UNSC had poked and prodded his brain so much, he had forgotten all of their names. His last memory of his mother was right before she died, the very day after his birthday. Ten minutes before the neighborhood was carpet-bombed by Covenant warheads, she had left him and his siblings with a babysitter. She told him over the phone that she loved him, and hung up. Thinking about it saddened him. It angered him. Seven years later, a group of UNSC officials that liked his papers came to pick him up from the orphanage, and he was separated from his brother and sister. They could have taken any other child, but they chose him. He always wondered why. He was never particularly fit, and at the time he had barely touched the surface of his schooling, but according to the UNSC, he could be forged into something great. They turned him into one of the deadliest Spartans alive, being described by his higher-ups as "Hyper Lethal". As far as he knew, his only equal in combat was the legendary SPARTAN-II, Master Chief. He had always wanted to be a superhero when he grew up. He never knew that he'd get his wish. With a quick flick of his wrist, he tossed the broken helmet into one of the walls, making a clicking, static noise.

Wait a minute…

A click? Static?

He heard clicking and static from inside of the helmet. Someone else was on the radio.

He rushed over to the helmet, picked it up off of the ground and put it on his head. "Hello?! Someone, Anyone, Respond! Anybody there?!" The Spartan said desperately.

He had no way of knowing whether or not it was just a bit of static from the force in which he threw the helmet at the wall, but he didn't care if the chance to save himself was there. His time behind enemy lines had changed him. Damaged him. He didn't like it.

The radio went silent, and he could hear something that sounded like breathing on the other end. The Spartan's heart skipped a beat.

Static. Then a loud click. "Finally, someone answers." a smooth, Slavic voice said. Someone else was here, thank god. He wasn't alone anymore. Finally. Now, he could go home. Home...

"Are you still there?" The voice said.

"Yes! Yes, I'm here!" The Spartan said, hoping that no Covenant could hear him, as if they did, he would never leave this planet.

"Are you human?" The voice said to him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm a Spartan."

This did not draw the amazed voice of awe the Spartan thought that it would, as it had so many others. Regular soldiers would salute him when he was in the virtually impenetrable MJOLNIR armor, as if he was God himself. They acted envious, and he knew that they always wished they could be just like him. Little did they know…

"Where are you, exactly?" The smooth voice spoke.

The Spartan rushed through his thoughts. Where was he right now? He consulted the mental map he had created when he was alone, but came out blank. "I... I don't know. Here, I can put on my tracker, if I..."

"Ah ah ah! Don't... do that. Covenant will be able to track you, too. Ever since they captured Aszod, they've had access to Human tech."

"Right..." Six said, clicking off the tracker. It was only on for a second, but hopefully, the Covenant wouldn't be able to trace it.

He didn't even know if he could trust this person, but he had to. He pushed the dark thoughts of what might happen if he was wrong out of his mind.

"What is your name?" The voice asked

The Spartan thought for a moment. "Ahh... yeah, about that..."

He never knew his name, as it was never asked of him, another scar gained from the intense mental testing in the SPARTAN III program. He always thought that it didn't matter that he didn't have a name as long as he did his job.

"It's fine. You don't have to tell me." The voice said.

"My Spartan number is B312, if that helps."

"B312?"

"Yes."

"I've heard that Spartan number before. Are you..."

The Spartan finished the sentence for him. "Noble Six. Yeah."

There was a short lapse in the conversation, and then the smooth voice responded.

"Stay put. I'll find you myself. Don't worry."

As those words escaped the mouth of the other man, the Spartan Noble Six's heart filled with hope. He had a chance now.

It was more than he could have asked for.


	2. Found Again

It had been three hours since Noble Six had gotten the transmission from the voice that promised his survival. It knew who he was, where he was, and WHAT he was. Spartans were first developed to crush the rebels of the Insurrection, but were now used to crush Covenant skull. Six, however, was forged to kill Covenant right off of the bat. It was certainly an interesting and unique profession, but all in all, it was terrifying. He started out with a dream team, an unstoppable squad, and then ended up alone. There had been five others, four of which could be accounted for.

Jorge, Noble 5, the team's explosives expert and good friend of Six's had sacrificed himself to blow up a Covenant Corvette in attempt to halt the Covenant attack, but his sacrifice proved worthless, as dozens more took its place. Emile, Noble 4, the no bull and all guts badass of the squad, had been operating an Onager laser cannon trying to defend the Pillar of Autumn from a Covenant Battle cruiser, and was ambushed by two Elites, killing one and taking the other down with him. Kat, Noble 2, their genius and expert hacker, had been shot while her shields were down by a Sangheili above Noble team as they were escaping the glassing of New Alexandria. Then there was Carter, Noble 1, the leader of Noble team, who had been piloting a pelican airship with Six and Emile inside, ran out of bullets while fighting an enormous scarab tank, and to clear the way he forced them out of the pelican and crashed the aircraft into the scarab's side, destroying himself and a legion of the Covenant.

Jun, their expert marksman and eye in the sky while Reach fell, however, was nowhere to be found. Six was not sure if he was dead or alive, and it unnerved him.

His thoughts continued to wander for a bit, and then he snapped out of his trance. This had happened to him maybe three or four times, starting ever since the week before. He believed that it was because of his isolation that he was slowly starting to lose it, but he wasn't sure. He would sometimes sit and stare at one of the walls in whatever building he was hiding out in for long periods of time, once even forgetting to eat. When that happened, it was almost as if he had been daydreaming. When he realized what he had been doing and woke up, he felt as though he had been ripped from paradise.

Six simply shook his head and scratched behind his ear. He dismissed the possibility that he was losing his mind with the idea of dinner. He pulled his last MRE from his belt and opened it. If the voice on the radio somehow didn't get to him, this would most likely be his last meal. He had been saving this one for last; a trio of biscuits, some fresh water, and a handful of dried bacon and beef. He took a swig of the water and picked out a biscuit. He was very hungry, but he chewed in moderation. He put the dried meat on the other two biscuits like little sandwiches and ate them slowly, too, finishing up with the water after.

He was still hungry.

He checked to see if the other end of the radio was open, but it wasn't, meaning that the voice was out of range, or possibly dead. Six wasn't exactly an optimistic man, but he safely assumed that whoever they were, they were okay. Six's eyes became heavy. A nap couldn't hurt. Although keeping his helmet on would be a good idea, he doubted that anyone other than his rescuer would be coming by any time soon. He left the helmet where it was, next to his position on the floor, and laid on the floor, closing his eyes.

_God damn, this armor is comfy._

* * *

Six woke up to the sounds of Covenant surrounding him.

"Shit." He whispered under his breath. How stupid he was, to turn on his tracker. The Covenant must have traced it back to his location. His DMR rifle was just a few feet away, but if he grabbed for it, he would risk detection. He could hear the roar of Sangheili from where he was, and it sounded close. He grabbed his DMR and pulled it towards him. He waited for one of them to call out his location, but no one had seen him yet. He slowly rose up with his gun raised, peering over cover. They were definitely Covenant, and by the looks of it, there were a lot.

Suddenly, several carbine blasts ripped through the air. Six looked up to a team of Jackals.

They saw him.

Another carbine shot hit Six's hand, causing him to drop the DMR. One of them almost hit him in the head, but He ducked the shot, holding his hand. Sure, the shields in his Mjolnir armor absorbed nearly all of the damage sent at them, but they didn't absorb the pain. He grabbed his DMR and dove for a pile of crates that he had collected and pushed together earlier that day, making a decent piece of cover. He liked to be one step ahead, but that wasn't always the case, as was the current situation.

He knew that he was going to have to fight. He loaded a new clip into the rifle and adjusted the scope, then popped out of cover to take a quick look at just how many Covenant he was up against.

There were multiple elites, at least eight of them. No, Nine, there was one on a Ghost. One, two Hunters. Four Jackals, those were easy to spot. There were seven Grunts with plasma pistols, two with needlers, and one with a fuel rod cannon, too. The Jackals began firing, so he ducked again, but now that he knew where everyone was, things would be a little easier. He poked his head out of cover again and shot three deadly accurate rounds into the line of Jackals, one dead center in the head, and the two other bullets ripping through another Jackal's face and chest. The first Hunter began charging its cannon, while the other grouped with four of the Elites and attempted an ambush. Six kept firing away, hitting one, two, four, six headshots on the group of Grunts, killing them instantly. Six dropped to the floor as soon as the first Hunter released its first shot and singed some of the hairs on his head. _The Helmet!_ He thought to himself. Not only was it his only way off of the planet, but it was his only protection from getting shot in the face. He got up onto his feet and dove for the headgear. Suddenly, to his right, the other Hunter appeared and began charging its cannon for a full power blast. Six wasn't expecting an ambush. The Elites appeared around him, almost out of thin air. As Six slipped the helmet on his head to protect his face, he realized that his efforts were futile. The Elites started firing plasma at his armor, eroding some of the metal plating and draining his shields.

"Shit!" Six shouted as he pulled out a hand grenade, threw it into the crowd and dove out of the side of the building.

It was a thirty foot drop, one that he could have easily survived with full shields. But with none? Hopefully his armor would absorb most of the impact.

Three seconds later, Six hit the ground with a loud thump and a crack. The chest plate of his armor had cracked open from plasma erosion, and the only thing between the air and his skin was the gel layer and thick black bodysuit on his torso. If he was shot there now, he would only be able to take maybe two or three shots.

Suddenly, the sound of a sniper rifle shredded the air around Six, causing him to drop to the floor to avoid being hit. Two Elites fell to the ground, both killed by the same round.

The Hunter jumped from the window and almost landed on Six before he rolled to his left and grabbed his gun. Six unloaded the entire clip of his rifle into the soft, wormlike body tissue of the Hunter's head and abdomen, killing it just as the magazine ran dry. The Hunter's corpse slammed into the ground, the noise startling the four remaining grunts, as they were picked off by the sniper rifle behind Six. Again, Six instinctively dropped to the floor, not knowing if this Sniper was friend or foe.

"Hang tight, Six!" His radio said. The Voice! That was who was sniping. At least he knew that he didn't have to worry about getting shot from behind.

More shots, from both the Voice and Six. Jackals and Elites dropped like stones as Six aimed for the other Hunter.

Suddenly, Six was swept off of his feet by a Ghost that was going full speed. As Six clung to the front of the ghost, he fired his DMR at the Elite driving, causing the ghost to swerve and flip down the hill. As they rolled, Six grabbed the Elite by its chest piece, placed his elbow at its throat, and crushed its esophagus and snapped its neck as he landed on the ground.

More sniper rounds. Two, four into the second Hunter. A pause. It blocked a fifth and sixth with its mounted shield. Six got onto his feet and charged the hunter with his combat knife ready. He jumped onto the Hunter's back just as it was about to fire at the Sniper's cover with its cannon. Six drove the knife into the neck of the Hunter and ripped back with his blade, pulling the Hunter's head back and exposing the soft insides of its neck to the Sniper. Two rounds, across where Six cut the Hunter, appeared inside of the its neck, killing it. It collapsed in a giant heap on the ground, and Six turned to face whatever else was nearby.

There were two Elites left in his immediate vicinity, but Six could only see one. The second Elite put its arms in front of Six's and held him from behind as the one he was facing pulled out its Energy Sword and charged.

In a daring moment of bravery and stupidity, Six lifted the lower half of his body and kicked the Elite directly in its toothy maw, stunning it and knocking the sword out of its hand. He flipped upwards and put his knees on either side of the Sangheili's neck, and twisted his waist, snapping the thing's neck. He jumped off of its shoulders and drop kicked the other Elite in the chest. He landed on his back, jumped up, got on to the Sangheili and proceeded to stab it in the throat.

As the Sniper picked off the last of the Covenant, Six raised his gun up, but there were no more living Covenant to be found. Six's shields started to recharge, but more slowly than usual, as if they had been damaged during the battle. Six reached up to his helmet and clicked his radio on.

"You've helped me a lot, but I can't trust you until I know who you are. Come out from there."

"Well, you do know me, so I guess we have trust out of the way." The Voice responded.

"I… know you? What do you mean? I thought..." Six trailed off. The Slavic accent. The sniper rifle...

No way.

Just then, the figure dropped from its perch.

He could tell from the shape of the figure that it was definitely male. As the character approached, he could make out that his armor was green, and had grass and netting on him.

Six ran full speed at the figure, catching him in a very shaky one armed hug.

"I'm not alone! Ha! Hahaha! Yes!" Six said.

The figure was startled by the sudden hug, but that was okay. He had no idea what Six had gone through, but it must have been bad, he thought to himself.

"It's okay, Six. It's okay." The smooth Slavic voiced, green armored eye in the sky said.

And that eye in the sky was one Six knew well.

That eye in the sky was Jun.

* * *

**Just so everyone knows, I know what actually happened to Jun. He escaped with Halsey and helped with the SPARTAN IV program. At the time of writing, however, I didn't have a clue. **

**Keep reading, dudes and gals!**

**~Husky**


	3. Plan in Action

"_This one's for Jorge!" Emile shouted as he fired the Onager cannon at the Covenant CSS-Class battlecruiser. Another shot. "That was for Kat!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Noble Six had never seen Emile like this. He was usually a calm, collected and efficient killer. But now, Emile was more than that. This was the first time that Six had ever seen him display any form of emotion. Suddenly, one Elite approached the hatch. There was the sound of a singular shotgun blast and Six looked up to the cannon. "WHO'S NEXT?!" Emile shouted angrily. Out of nowhere came another Elite from behind Emile, who impaled him upon its energy sword. This hurt him, but it also made him angry. Realizing that he was done for, Emile decided to go out in style. "I'M READY! HOW 'BOUT YOU?" Emile yelled, as he took his kukri knife and plunged it into the Elite's neck._

_ Emile was dead. He was alone, and he was surrounded. Six stayed strong and kept fighting. Suddenly, an Elite jumped on his chest and pinned him to the floor. As he struggled to push it off of him, it whispered something to him._

"_Six!" it whispered._

"_NO! GET OFF OF ME!" He yelled, and hit it in the face with a forceful punch._

"_Ouch! God dammit Six!" The Elite said to him._

That was the moment when Six realized that he was just dreaming. It wasn't real. He had been having nightmares since about a week ago, reliving the horrors that he had gone through, and the most prominent being the loss of his squad mates. Every time, the dream ended with Six himself getting killed. But this time, the Elite woke him up. Why?

He sat up quickly, pistol raised and aiming at…

Jun.

"Jesus Christ, Jun, you scared the living crap out of me." Six said with a heavy breath.

"Hehe, it's okay Six. Ow, you pack a punch." The smooth, Slavic voiced Spartan said. "_You _scared _me_. You were having a nightmare, yes?"

"Yeah… about Emile." Six said as he put his head between his knees.

Jun gave Six an understanding look, then looked at the sunrise. "It is daytime now, Six. We have to get moving if we want to get to the fleet."

The "Fleet" that he was speaking of was not Human, but Covenant. While scouting for a way off of the planet, Jun found a legion of Covenant taking refuge at Aszod, the location of where the Pillar of Autumn used to be docked. This was extremely odd. The members of the Covenant believe that Humanity is equivalent to filth. Some would rather die in hand to hand combat than even touch a human weapon in the midst of combat.

Maybe these "Covenant" weren't actually worshippers of the Covenant at all. It was entirely possible that a squad could go rogue. If they did, it would explain why this section of the planet had been unglassed.

"What time is it?" Six asked.

"From the position of the sun, I would say about… 8:00AM, give or take an hour or so.

"Alright… Let's move." Six said to Jun, trying his best not to look afraid.

Jun put his helmet on and got his rifle. Six decided it would be nice to have, but the helmet would ultimately hinder him in a firefight. He carried it with him just in case he and Jun needed to communicate from far away, which would ultimately happen because of Jun's weapon of choice, his trusty Sniper Rifle.

As they walked to the base at Aszod, Six had a new surge of fear wash over him. He shrugged it off and kept moving. As he walked, he thought about his fear. He didn't understand how he could get so far and simply break down, going from unstoppable badass to afraid of the Covenant. Of course, he had been alone and faced death every day, it was only inevitable that he would lose it a little bit. He was glad he had come across Jun, and he was relieved that he wasn't the only surviving member of Noble team. Each of them died horribly, and he almost went down with them. As they walked towards Aszod, Six felt safe for the first time in a very, very long time.

* * *

"You'd think that they would be a little bit more active than this." Six said with a sigh.

"I know." Said Jun. "It is… Unusual for them to be so quiet."

"I'm starting to think that this isn't your average batch of Covenant." Six said, uneasy.

"What ever the reason, you should try to get closer to them. I can provide covering fire in case things do not work out as planned." Jun said

"Yeah, I'd hate to put you in a bad position up there. Try to find an easily defensible area with a lot of brush; your armor is the same color as the grass here." Six said.

"Alright, move up. I have your back, friend." Jun said in his usual confident, slick tone.

Six flashed a white toothed smile at Jun, and then snuck down the hill. It was nighttime now, and right about the time that Six wished his helmet wasn't busted, as it was equipped with a night vision feature, and would be very useful in picking out targets. _Well, you can't have everything,_ Six said to himself. As he approached, even his eyes could make out what was in the distance. His jaw dropped. There were at least fourteen Phantoms in the area, and three of them were taking off. There were many Banshees, and at least four dozen Sangheili.

This was no singular rogue squad. This was a small army.

_I can hardly believe that I agreed to this plan,_ Six thought.

The plan in question was this: Highjack a Phantom and fly it into Human Airspace so they could be found. In short, damned crazy. However, Six trusted Jun for his intellect on the same level that he trusted his aim, and he knew that there was no other way to do it.

As he traversed forward towards Aszod, he noticed that the hostiles in the area were particularly attentive. Six was almost seen three times on his way to the landing platform where the phantoms were kept, and Jun almost pulled the trigger on an Elite that he thought saw Six. Luckily, neither were the case, and Six made it to the landing platform relatively intact. Six had never seen such a large amount of covenant machinery up close, but he had to stay very alert to not be seen, as if he stopped to marvel at it for too long, their cover would certainly be blown sky high.

"Jun, I'm at the landing platform, come in, Jun." Six said into his radio.

"I read you." Jun replied.

"Do you see me? I'm in between the first and second Phantoms. On the left." Six said, as he waved his arms back and forth.

"Yeah, I see… Shit!"

"What? What's wrong?" Six asked.

"Several hostiles converging on your location, Six! Hide!"

"Shit." Six said under his breath. It wasn't anything the two Spartans couldn't handle, but the extra three or so dozen would be if they chose to go loud.

Six hid behind the engine of one of the phantoms as the Elites passed, but one stayed nearby. Something was strange about these Sangheili. Six didn't have the time to dwell on it, however.

"I think that I can sneak past this guy." Six said.

"If you think that you can, try to get back over here. No one needs you to be seen out there." Jun replied.

Six stuck to the tall grass, his dark armor masking his presence. Eventually, the grass broke into a wide and open space. Six climbed up a flight of stairs...

...and was now toe to toe with a Sangheili.

He hadn't noticed before, but these Sangheili looked different than the Covenant warriors. The one that he was now faced with wore black and blood red rags on his shoulders and around his neck. His eyes were pure white, and his armor was grey.

Before the Elite could react, Six grabbed his knife and stabbed it deeply into the Sangheili's throat. Purple blood spurted out on to Six's armor as it collapsed, clutching its neck. It bled profusely as it lay on the floor, dead. Six heard the sound of gunfire, and instinctively ducked. But no one was shooting at him. At least, not yet.

"Six, where are you?" Jun asked.

"I'm almost there, Jun. Something weird is going on." Six replied.

Six peered over the guard rail to find the source of the gunfire. He looked into the dark, and there was another gunshot. Six clicked on his night vision, knowing that it would be a bit buggy, to take a closer look.

Two Sangheili wearing the same rags and armor as the one that Six had killed were walking along a line of Covenant Sangheili wearing recruit armor. The first Sangheili walked up to one of the Elites that was on its knees and looked at it. He then proceeded to raise his needle rifle and plant a needle into the kneeling Elite's forehead. The second Sangheili simply laughed madly.

"Jun, there are Sangheili killing each other out here. Please tell me you have a visual." Six said.

"Negative." Jun said, anxious.

The second Sangheili suddenly looked up towards Six. He looked at his friend. "Aeu chu?" He asked. _What was that?_

"Aeu aeu?" The other Sangheili responded._ What was what?_

The second Sangheili raised his needle rifle at the guard rail. "Klaka grorx Eia hoh' riok!" He yelled. _Come out, so we may kill you!_

Other Sangheili rose to attention. They were all wearing similar armor as the other two, if not the same. Who the hell were these Sangheili? They were executing Covenant, and they were dressed like nothing that Six had ever seen. Six dared peer over the rail just a bit further.

"Jun, they know I'm here. I think we're going to have to go loud." Six said.

"I have your back, Six." Jun said.

Six paused, then took a deep breath.

Then, he popped up from cover and began to fire.


	4. Tragedy

Plasma ripping through the air. Bullets flying in all directions. One shot. Two shots. Three. Four. An overcharged plasma blast flew through the air and caught Six directly in the chest. An Elite was running up the stairs beside him to finish him off. It sliced its energy sword directly at Six's face. He dodged the attack. Six punched the elite in the face, twice in the gut, and then stabbed it in the heart. He left the knife buried in the Elite's chest and ran for his life. No time to pull it out. He could hear the sound of a sniper rifle in the distance. Jun. Jun was in trouble. He ran across the base as fast as he could, shooting several Elites on the way.

"Jun? Jun! Do you read me?" Six shouted into the radio.

"I read you, Six! There are too many of them! Get over here, quickly!" Jun shouted back.

He couldn't let Jun die. He had to hurry. He could see Jun in the distance battling several Elites at once. For a Spartan who preferred long ranged combat, he could handle things up close and personal quite well. Six watched Jun as he ducked, span, jumped and rolled around the Elites while hacking away at them with his combat knife. He got into a rhythm, ducking and rolling faster than Six thought possible.

Six raised his DMR and fired the entire clip into the Elites surrounding Jun. One kill, two kills, three, all headshots. Jun took his knife and stabbed the last of the four Elites in the bottom of its chin, killing it instantly. Six reached the top of the hill.

"You seemed to handle yourself pretty well before I helped." Six said as he blasted numerous Covenant.

"I was relying on instinct. What can I say?" Jun replied, killing several Covenant.

"We have to get to one of those Covenant aircraft, Six, before we are overwhelmed."

"Well, what the hell is the plan?" Six responded. "I can't exactly run back in there Jun! Those guys are even more aggressive than the usual Elites!"

"I think you're going to have to, Six. I'll come with you, just to be safe." Jun replied

Six groaned audibly. "Fine. We have no other choices anyways. Cover me, I'm going in."

Six ran into the thick of the battle, DMR in one hand, grenade in the other. He chucked the grenade into a pair of Sangheili, and before they could move, he shot the grenade. The Sangheili hit the terrain embedded with shrapnel.

"Move, Jun! Go!" Six yelled.

Jun advanced down the hill, picking off several of the attacking Sangheili as he went down. A blast from a covenant carbine hit Jun in the shoulder, catching him off balance. He slid down the rest of the hill, almost falling flat on his back.

"Move up, Six!" Jun shouted as he regained his balance. "I have your back!"

"Got it!" Six replied. As he ran, Six could see an Elite dropping every time Jun's sniper took a shot. He was glad his back was covered by someone who knew what they were doing. As he fired upon the Covenant, Six reached the landing platform for the second time that night.

"Go Jun, go! Run!" Six yelled through the radio. Jun was maybe 30 yards away. He was easy pickings for any Covenant that might catch him off guard. Six wasn't about to take the chance. He pulled out his magnum and fired at several Elites that were getting too close to the now mobile Jun. However, while keeping an eye on Jun, he failed to notice the Elite that was behind him. As Six's back was turned, the Elite deployed his wrist blades and went for Six's neck. Six had just enough time to turn before the Sangheili was upon him. Pinned to the concrete. Six could not cover Jun this way. He had to act fast, or the whole plan would be ruined. He grabbed the Elite's arm and forced it upwards, attempting to pierce the Elite's temple with its own weapon, but Six missed the head by a longshot. The Elite readied its other wrist blade and went for the throat.

This was it.

End of the line.

"NO!" Jun shouted. He heard a grunt as Jun tackled the Elite and stabbed it several times in the windpipe, spurting the Sangheili's purple blood on to Jun's dark green armor. The dying Elite made one last attempt to inflict a wound in one of the Spartans, and it made its mark, stabbing Jun directly in the shoulder. The other Spartan merely grunted as he finished off the general, and ran for the nearest Phantom.

"Goddamn things. I fucking hate them." Six said as he caught up with Jun.

"Eh. I kill the enemy, but I do not hate them." Jun replied.

"Your choice." Six fired back with a grin.

The two Spartans approached the controls to the aircraft. Six had no experience piloting a Phantom, but he figured that it was similar to any other aircraft.

"Cover me, I'll man the controls. As soon as I figure out what I'm doing, we'll be fine." Six said to Jun.

"Well, you should really hurry up and learn how to fly this thing, Six. We have company!" Jun responded.

Jun raised his rifle and emptied the clip several times into the attacking Elites. He killed about a dozen of them, but it still wasn't enough. He saw several Banshees approaching them at high speed. They needed to take off, now.

"I've almost got it!" Six shouted.

"Whatever you are trying to do, Six, do it fast!" Jun replied as he downed another half dozen Sangheili.

The telltale sound of Banshee plasma bolts echoed through the air as the green grenade-like missiles struck the side of the Phantom. Jun was running low on ammo.

"C'mon!" Six shouted at the controls, frustrated and afraid.

Suddenly, the phantom went lurching upwards.

"Hey, Jun! I got it! I got it!" Six shouted in disbelief.

"Go! Go!" Jun yelled back.

Six located the booster and flew forwards, going as fast as they could to outrun the Banshees.

No dice. The Banshees were smaller and faster.

Jun was unloading his clip in the most quick and precise manner he could, hitting a few wings and even catching one of the banshees in a booster, causing it to spiral out of control and crash into another Banshee, destroying both. Jun unloaded his clip and inserted another. He fired four more shots. He reached back down to grab a new clip, but came up with nothing.

"I'm out of bullets, Six!" Jun shouted to the new pilot.

"Switch!" Six yelled back.

Six and Jun swapped places and continued their escape.

Six was low on DMR ammo to begin with, and he had maybe three clips left. He also had his Magnum and a few Plasma Grenades that he had looted from the group of grunts that they had killed the day Jun arrived. Not enough to take down a dozen Banshees. Regardless, Six fired away while the Covenant did the same. It took nearly an entire clip to pierce the first Banshee's armor, so Six decided to go for the engines and boosters instead. It took only four rounds to destroy the first booster, which was being used at the time, causing the driver to boost directly left into the cliff face near where the Autumn used to be. Two of the other Banshees were already damaged from Jun's Sniper Rifle, so six aimed for their wings. After two shots, the first Banshee's wing, already badly damaged by Jun, broke off and fell to the ground below, causing the second banshee to go down.

_I hope it lands on a Sangheili's head, _Six thought to himself.

They were getting far away from Aszod, and eight or nine of the pursuing Banshees retreated back to the now Covenant base. There were three banshees still hot on the hijacked Phantom's tail, and they didn't look like they were going to give up anytime soon.

As six emptied his last clip into one of the final Banshees, taking it down, he felt his heart sink. A Magnum wasn't going to do anything. Unless…

"Is the Phantom's plasma cannon working?" Six yelled to Jun.

"No! It is malfunctioning! I would have activated it sooner had it been on!" Jun yelled back.

"God dammit! That was my last idea, and I'm out of ammo!" Six shouted.

"Are you sure that you have no other ideas?" Jun said back.

"Not any that might work." Six replied.

There was a pause of about five seconds.

"Do you see any Covenant Jetpacks back there?" Jun said.

"Yes, there's a few. What are you going to do, go out there and…" Six stopped himself. He realized what Jun was proposing.

"Take the controls, Six!" Jun shouted. He turned on the automatic piloting system and ran to the side of the Phantom. He started connecting the Jetpack to his armor.

"No, Jun! I'm not letting you do this!" Six yelled.

"I have to!" Jun yelled back.

"NO YOU DON'T! You could DIE, Jun!"

"I HAVE TO TAKE THAT CHANCE, SIX!"

Six was stunned. He had never seen Jun like this before.

Suddenly, a Banshee's Green plasma beam hit the side of the Phantom, knocking six off of his feet. Jun stayed on his feet and braced his balance, then jumped out of the Phantom onto one of the Banshees below.

"JUN!" Six screamed. "Goddammit!"

Six watched with horror as Jun ripped the driving Elite out of the Banshee and threw him to the depths below. Jun them mounted the Banshee and dodged the second Banshee's fire, and then shot a plasma beam directly at the other Banshee, destroying it.

However, Jun's own Banshee had already been damaged by Six's fire, along with the plasma bolts that were shot at it. It was on fire, and ready to explode. Jun rode it up to the side of the phantom, but the Banshee was losing altitude. Jun climbed on top of the Banshee and made a ten foot high super human jump to the Phantom, thirty feet above him. Activating his jetpack, Jun flew up about 18 more feet until the pack began to stall, and Jun began falling.

"NOOOO!" Six shouted as he dove down to the edge of the phantom, hanging on for dear life with one hand outstretched to Jun, the other clamped onto the edge of the Phantoms floor.

Jun caught Six's hand.

Six used newfound strength to pull himself up, then started pulling up Jun.

"Thank you, Six. I owe you—"

Jun was cut off by the beam rifle shot that penetrated his helmet and traveled cleanly through his brain.

It killed him instantly.


	5. The Pillar of Autumn

**Sorry for the short chapter! I didn't have as much time as I normally do!**

**Happy Reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**

* * *

The force of the shot echoed through Jun's brain like a shockwave, pulling his lifeless body to the right, smashing his armor against the side of the Phantom and making Six lose his grip on Jun's hand. Jun's corpse fell from the sky at a fast pace, but Six felt it in slow motion. He watched Jun slowly fall from his chance at escaping. Six watched with every muscle in his body seized up as his last friend fell to the murky depths below.

"No. No no no! NO! Fuck. FUCK! JUN!" Six's heart was racing. He had no idea what to do. He was clueless. Jun was the man with the plan, not him. He raced through his head. He had to hurry before Covenant Reinforcements arrived

_What was Jun's plan?_ Six thought to himself. _Think, Six, Think!_

"_We need to get to Aszod, Six." Jun said to him._

"_Heh, yeah. No fucking way are we going back there" Six replied._

"_Hear me out. While I was out here, I came across Aszod. I steered clear, because the Covenant were setting up a base of some sort. Maybe, if you or me can sneak into Aszod, we can take a Phantom and leave Reach."_

"_That's insane, Jun. Where would we even go?"_

"_We could go find the Autumn." Jun said._

That was it. He had to find the Pillar of Autumn. Surely then he would be safe.

His only regret was that he had no time to mourn.

* * *

**One Week Later...**

Clancy let out an audible sound of awe. Just moments ago, the Pillar of Autumn had exited Slip space and stumbled upon a very large ring in the sky. It was just… floating there. Clancy thought that it was the coolest thing he had seen since he had seen Petty Officer John-117 in Cryo-sleep yesterday. Clancy was a UNSC Soldier, a fighter for the Human's Marines. Although he thought himself to be a capable fighter, he knew he didn't compare to the Master Chief, not by a longshot. Maybe he knew what this thing was. Surely they would wake him up. He wondered if…

"I've got readings of Covenant Aircraft behind us!" Someone shouted.

Clancy was surprised. He hadn't known that the Covenant had tracked them all the way from Reach. That scared him.

"Scanners are picking up only one Covenant Phantom. Everything else is coming from the other side of the planet." An operator said.

What? That was very strange. The Covenant have never attacked so pitifully.

"It could be a diversion!" Someone said

"Shoot it down!" Someone else said.

"Wait!" Said Clancy. Everyone looked at him. "What's that noise?"

Everybody stayed silent. A faint crackle could be heard on the other end of the radio.

The person manning the radio was Clancy's sister, Abigail. She was his twin sister, and he loved her. He only wished that they could have been able to lead normal lives instead of join the marines. But they had an obligation to help. Anyone who just stood around wasn't going to make a difference.

"Someone track that signal!" Abigail said.

The person manning the radio to communicate with the Phantom was Clancy's sister, Abigail. She was his little sister, and he loved her. He only wished that he could protect her from all of this madness.

"Hello? Is anyone there!? Hello?!" A gruff male voice was shouting on the other end.

" Yes, this is Abigail Maegan of the Pillar of Autumn. Identify yourself." Abigail said.

"I'm -artan number B-ot away fro-each."

"Repeat, soldier, you're breaking up."

"This is Noble Six! My Spartan number is B-" And then simply static.

Clancy's jaw dropped. There was another Spartan. Clancy could feel all eyes drawn directly to him. Everybody started celebrating at once. It was crazy.

"Good ears, Clancy!" Someone shouted.

"Attention, Captain Keyes. The Phantom the just showed up on our Radar is the Spartan III unit Noble Six commandeering a stolen Covenant Aircraft."

All the while, everyone was cheering and celebrating.

Now, they were going to kick some serious Covenant ass.


	6. Hyper Lethal

Captain Jacob Keyes had just received news that Noble Six was alive and that there were now two Spartans left to fight. Keyes was very glad that Six and the Chief were on the Pillar of Autumn, but they were expecting an attack from the Covenant within the next ninety seconds. Along with the report that their fighting force had strengthened tenfold, he had also received another that the Covenant were approaching the Autumn from the far side of the planet that was located nearby the ring.

"Well, that's it then. Bring the ship back up to Combat Alert Alpha. I want everyone at their stations." Keyes said aloud.

"Everyone, sir?" A disembodied female voice said back.

"_Everyone_." He replied.

The alarm klaxon sounded, and everyone was getting ready for the incoming attack.

"And Cortana..." Keyes said.

"Hmm?" Cortana replied as her AI form took place in front of Keyes.

"… Let's give our old friends a warm welcome." Keyes said.

"I've already begun." Cortana said.

Just then, Noble Six walked into the room. Since he had boarded the Autumn, he had gotten a set of replacement armor, a set of his old Mark V with a dark Steel color. He walked into the control room with a stern look on his face, helmet held in the crook of his arm like a football. He walked over to Captain Keyes.

"Sir." Noble Six said, and saluted the captain.

"At ease, Spartan." Keyes said.

What's the situation?" Noble Six said to the Captain.

"When we exited slip space, we came across a large ring suspended in space. We aren't sure what it is, or what it is doing here, but we suspect that the Covenant might be hunting for it. Be it a relic or a base of some sort, we can't let the Covenant get their hands on it. However, the Covenant realizes that we might try to stop them, so they are approaching us from the far side of the planet. They'll be here in less than a minute. That's why I've given orders to send our two best and brightest soldiers out onto the field. You…" Keyes paused.

"And the Master Chief." Six said.

"Correct. You'll be working with the Master Chief to take out any Covenant that set foot on this vessel. Can you handle that?"

"Easy. With two Spartans, this'll be a breeze."

"I know that you've been through a lot in the past few weeks, but I need your full attention here. Dwelling on the past doesn't solve anything." Keyes said.

"I won't, sir. You have my word." Six said.

"Then get moving. They're releasing the Master Chief now. Get down there and get acquainted. I have a feeling that you two will definitely be working together on this." Keyes said to Six.

"Sir, yes sir." Six replied.

As six walked out of the room, Keyes stopped him.

"Six!" Keyes said as Six was walking out of the door.

"Yes sir?" Six said back

"Be careful out there. It's a blessing that we found you; we can't lose our Spartans when we've just gained the advantage. Especially not now that we've discovered this ring, whatever it is." Keyes said.

Six smirked. "I'll try, Captain." He said as he slipped on his helmet, locked it in place, and started towards the Master Chief.

* * *

A whooshing sound. Cold. His armor switched on. He was awake.

"His suit shows green. Cycle complete." Someone said.

A tech chief stepped towards him and saluted.

"Sorry for the quick thaw, Master Chief. Things are a little hectic right now. The disorientation should pass quickly." Another man, a tech officer, said.

"Vital signs look normal. No freezer burn. Okay sir, go ahead and climb out of the cryo tube." The tech chief said to him.

He stepped out of the Cryogenic sleep unit and gave a quick look at the surroundings. The Pillar of Autumn. The Chief could hear Cortana's voice over the Intercom.

"Fire teams: Report to defensive positions Alpha through Sierra. Sensors show inbound Covenant boarding craft. Stand by to repel boarders." She said.

That didn't sound good.

The automatic doors slid open and a Steel Mark V-clad Spartan ran through the doors. This took Master Chief by surprise. He was sure that he had been the only Spartan on this ship.

"So you must be the famous Master Chief. It is a pleasure to meet you." Six extended his hand as a friendly gesture.

"Right. And you are…?" The Chief said back.

"SPARTAN-B312, Noble Six." Six replied.

"Sounds familiar, but I don't recognize you." The Chief said

"If you want, I can refresh your memory. I covered the Pillar of Autumn with a giant Onager cannon while you were locked up in that cryo-tube of yours, and I protected that AI you have on this ship and brought it here."

"Cortana?" Chief said.

"That's the one." Six replied.

"Well, you sound capable. Mind on filling me in?"

"There is a lot of Covenant outside firing on the Autumn. They've got multiple boarding aircraft, as well. I don't know exactly how much time we have until they get in, but we're supposed to meet up with Staff Sergeant Johnson." Six said.

"Alright. Lead the way." The Chief said.

"But we haven't finished your armor calibration, yet. If you'd just give us a moment…" the first marine said.

"I'm fine. I have another capable Spartan covering me. Stay safe, you two." Master Chief said as Six and him walked towards where Keyes said Staff Sergeant Johnson would be.

They walked in on the Staff Sergeant giving the marines a motivational speech before battle. According to Keyes, that was probably what he would be doing when they got there, and he was dead on.

"Men, we led those dumb bugs out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on Earth. But we stumbled onto somethin' they're so hot for, that they're scramblin' over each other to get it. Well, I don't care if it's God's own anti-son-of-a-bitch machine, or a giant hula hoop, we're not gonna let 'em have it! What we will let 'em have...is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in! Am I _right_, Marines?" Johnson said.

"SIR, YES SIR!" The marines replied.

"Uh-huh. Damn right, I am. Now move it out! Double time!"

Six and Chief approached the Staff Sergeant, and he turned to them.

"Here we go, now those bugs have more to worry about than the whole damn UNSC. I expected them to take longer to thaw you out, Chief." Johnson said.

"We skipped some of the diagnostics. I was told that we needed to get down here, so we did. He said that it was urgent." Master Chief said.

"And you, state your name, soldier."

"Noble Six, first Lieutenant."

"Which means you outrank me by about half a dozen ranks, is that right?"

"I guess it does."

"Well, I guess that means you'll be able to make some important decisions, too. Make the right ones, you hear?" the Sergeant Major said.

"Will do. Now, back to what you called us down for. I was told it was important." Six said.

"Hell yeah it is. The Covenant have almost gotten through—"

Suddenly, Six, Chief, and Johnson were interrupted by the blood-curdling roar of a Sangheili. They turned to find the image of the savage, deadly warrior brutally murdering the tech officer and chief that had been attempting to calibrate Master Chief's armor minutes ago.

Several more Elites were pouring from the doorway, which scared Six into grabbing Master Chief and the Sergeant Major and forcing them to move.

"We'll have a better chance if we meet up with the marines ahead. I'm not throwing lives away to these pieces of shit." Six said.

It took them a minute, but they finally caught up with the marines. When they got there, the marines looked in awe at the two Spartans.

"Woah." A particularly awestruck marine said

That voice happened to be the one of Clancy Maegan, the marine that convinced the Lieutenant not to give the orders to shoot down Noble Six's Phantom.

Another marine looked at Clancy and nudged his shoulder.

"Hey Clancy, I bet that you didn't expect this, huh?" he said.

"Not in a million years." He replied under his breath.

"Listen up, marines! This here is the Master Chief, and next to him is the Spartan Lieutenant Noble Six. You know what that means?" Johnson boomed.

"That we actually have a chance now?" a marine yelled from the back.

"Ooh rah." Another marine said.

"What it means is that you treat these men with respect! Master Chief and Noble Six are two of the last Spartans that we know aren't dead yet. Along with that information, Noble Six outranks even me, so obey him as you would if you were obeying ME! Is that understood, marines?" He shouted.

"SIR, YES SIR!"" The marines shouted back.

A marine came up running from behind the rest. All of the marines, including Clancy, moved to the sides of the hallway to make way for him.

"Master Chief! Captain Keyes needs you down at the bridge! It's Urgent!" the marine said in between gasps.

"Thank you for the information, soldier." The Chief said.

"Sergeant," Six said. "Do you think that you can hold off these Sangheili while we make our way to the bridge?"

"Easy pickings," Clancy said aloud.

"What he said. Get ready marines! Move, Spartans, move!" Johnson said as he got into a stance that made him look like he was born for this. He probably was.

"Alright. Let's get down to the bridge, Chief." Six said.

"Aye aye, Cap'n." Chief said.

Noble six smirked.

"That's Lieutenant to you, mister." Six said.

They both chuckled as they ran to the bridge as fast as their feet could take them.


	7. Following Orders

Six and the Master Chief had both seen plenty of death in their careers, usually being the only survivors in a firefight. What was happening now was no exception.

Six could hear the firing of assault rifles and magnums behind him. He could hear the roars of Covenant from his sides through the walls. They were almost to the bridge.

A marine ran up to the Chief and Six. He saluted the both of them.

"Sirs! The Captain needs you both on the bridge, ASAP!" The marine said.

"How close are we?" Six said. He had never been on this ship before.

"We're pretty close, just follow me!" the marine said to them.

"Lead the way." The Chief said.

As they went through the next set of doors, they came across a room that was full of dead and wounded marines. Under his helmet, Six cringed. It reminded him of his team. Six was now glad that he was a Spartan, even if it was only because he was harder to kill.

The three of them could hear the sounds of fighting behind them. A soldier was firing on a group of Covenant when Six turned around. The Soldier ran out of ammo. Instead of panicking, he did the smart thing and ran for his life. He ran through the blast doors and shut them.

"Where's the rest of your team?" the Chief said to the soldier.

"Johnson is alright. A lot of them though… They're dead. Oh, man, we are SO fucked!" the soldier said.

"Relax." Six said. "What's your name?"

"Cl… Clancy, sir. Clancy Maegan. I'm a Corporeal." The marine said.

"Alright, Clancy, well, we're Spartans, we have this under control. Stick behind us and try not to get shot." Six said.

"Whoa. I never thought I would have a Spartan covering me in a gunfight." Clancy said.

"The hope is that we don't GET into a gunfight." The other marine said.

"If we do, we can handle them." Six said.

It took the four of them less than a minute to get to the bridge after that. Clancy stayed behind to protect the bridge, but Six knew that that was just code for "I can't keep up with you guys", considering that the blast doors were keeping the Covenant out. Oh well.

The two Spartans approached Keyes.

"Captain." Six said.

"It's good to see you two are still alive. Unsurprisingly." Keyes said. "Chief." He said with an outstretched hand.

Master Chief shook it.

"Things aren't going well. Cortana did her best, but we never really had a chance." Keyes said.

Suddenly, Cortana's avatar appeared on the holotank in front of them.

"A dozen Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon-class light cruiser. Given those odds I'm content with three...make that four kills." She said. Cortana looked at Six with a curious look. She then looked at Master Chief. "Sleep well?" She asked.

"No thanks to your driving, yes." He replied.

Cortana smiled. "So you did miss me." She said.

A loud explosion shook the bridge. The Chief and Keyes both lost their balance, but Six fell into a guard rail.

"Report!" Keyes shouted.

"It must have been one of their boarding parties! I'd guess an Antimatter Charge!" Cortana yelled back.

"Ma'am! Fire control to the main cannon is offline!" a fire control officer shouted.

"Captain, the cannon was my last offensive option." Cortana said to Keyes.

"Alright then. I'm initiating Cole Protocol, Article 2. We're abandoning the Autumn. That means you too, Cortana." Keyes said.

"While you do what, go down with the ship?" She said to him.

"In a manner of speaking. The object we found, I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it." Keyes said.

"With all due respect, sir, this war has enough dead heroes."

"I appreciate your concern, Cortana, but it's not up to me. Protocol is clear. Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable, that means you're leaving the ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones, upload them to my neural lace, and then sort yourself for a hard transfer."

"Aye aye, sir."

Cortana's avatar then disappeared.

"Which is where you two come in." Keyes said. "Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her, they'll learn everything. Force deployment, weapons research... Earth."

"We understand." Master Chief said.

Cortana's avatar came back up again.

"The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence. Not that you'll listen, but I'd suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach." She said.

"Excellent work, Cortana. Thank you. Are you ready?" Keyes said to her.

Cortana looked around the Pillar of Autumn's bridge. She sighed.

"Yank me." She said.

Captain Keyes pulled a data chip out of the holotank and handed it to the Master Chief, then closed his hand around it.

"Good luck, Master Chief. And take my pistol." Keyes said.

Master Chief slid Cortana's chip into the back of his helmet and grabbed Keyes' magnum.

"Don't get any funny ideas." He said to himself.

"What?" Six said.

"I'm talking to Cortana. She's integrated into my armor, so I can hear her." The Chief said.

"Oh. Alrighty then." Six said.

And with that, they began running to the escape pods.


	8. Run While You Can

Master Chief and Six had left the bridge and Captain Keyes behind only moments ago, and they already had encountered a few Covenant. It was nothing that they couldn't handle, but that meant that there were many more than just the couple that they had killed. They were running out of time. Any minute, Covenant could come barreling through the next door, or the next one. The only marines that they had come across were dead ones.

Master Chief kneeled down at the body of a dead marine with his eyes still open. He pushed his eyelids down.

"Unlucky bastard." The Chief said. He took the marine's assault rifle and saluted him.

"Things really are going to shit, aren't they?" Six said.

"Oh yeah, they are. Let's get moving. We need to get off of the ship." The Chief said.

"What the hell?" Six said.

"What?" The Chief said back.

"I'm getting interference on my radio. Something's screwy." Six said.

"There we go. I'm patched in." Cortana said.

"Did she just hack into my radio?" Six said to Master Chief.

"Probably." The Chief said.

"Not only can we now communicate, Six, but I can see basic diagnostics and your shield level. Basically, I can tell if you or John are in danger." Cortana said.

"Handy." Six said. He looked at Master Chief. "John? That's your name?"

"Yeah. Got a problem?" The Chief said.

"No, not at all. Can I call you John? I don't feel like referring to you as the Chief. It's not very convenient in the way of conversation."

"Call me either. You're a higher rank than me anyways." John said.

As they advanced down the hall, John looked at Six.

"How about you? What's yours?"

"My what?"

"Your name. What's your name?"

"Couldn't tell ya."

"What?"

"I mean that I don't know. No clue."

"What, do you have amnesia or something?

"Yeah, something like that. I don't remember my name. All of the experimentation they did on my brain made me... forget... certain things."

"Sorry."

"No need. You sound like someone died." Six said with a grin.

"Well, come on, I have to call you _something_."

"Just call me Six. It's the closest thing I have to a name anyways."

"Alright then."

As they proceeded down the hallway, guns raised, they came across a trio of marines fighting off an Elite. Six raised his DMR and, with four well placed shots, took the beast down.

"Master Chief! Lieutenant Noble Six! It is a pleasure to meet you, sirs. Thank you for your help."

"No problem." John said.

Abruptly, the Autumn was rocked by an enormous and loud explosion.

"What the hell?" Six said.

"Did something just hit us?" One of the marines said.

"Move it! Back to the airlock!" The other marines said.

"No, wait!" Six shouted.

An explosion blasted out from the airlock, likely caused by a Covenant boarding craft crashing into the ship. The explosion killed the two marines. Covenant troops then emptied into the corridor. Elites and Grunts were all firing their weapons. John and Six returned fire, and dropped several Grunts. Six pulled a grenade from his belt.

"I'm probably going to feel bad that these marines won't have an open casket funeral after this." He said, and chucked the live grenade into the crowd.

"Their faces are melted off. I don't think that they can complain." John said as the grenade's explosion rocked the corridor. "Besides, I don't think that we're going to have time for a funeral at this point.

"Well, we have to keep moving. Who knows how many more Covenant there are?" Six said.

"Right behind you." John replied.

* * *

They had been walking for only another five minutes before something else went wrong.

Lifepods were ejecting out of the Autumn, and the two Spartans could see the results. Three lifepods ejected from the ship, and they were all shot down by Covenant fire.

"The Covenant are destroying the lifepods...they really don't want us on that ring." Cortana said.

"Fuck." Six said. "This is a suicide mission."

"Not if we hurry." John said.

"Well, shit. Alrighty, head for the blast doors." Six said.

"Warning! Blast doors closing!" Cortana yelled.

Just then, the blast doors in that room shut tight.

"Damn." John said.

"We'll have to use the ship's maintenance access ways. Follow the NAV point, it will lead you to an opening." Cortana said.

Just then, a dot appeared on Six's scanner. He was sure John saw it too, because he set off for it first. Six could still hear Keyes' voice over the intercom, shouting orders and trying to save as many lives as possible. Good man.

"I'm detecting Covenant movement outside the access ways. Activating motion tracker. Let's find a safe exit." Cortana said.

John and Six approached the first door. Suddenly, red dots framed their position on the scanner.

"They're right on top of us! We need to find another way through." Cortana said.

"Quick, over here!" Six yelled. He was pointing at a particularly beaten up door.

"Perfect! If you can get rid of that door, you should have a clear path ahead! Try knocking it down, Six." Cortana said.

With a singular super-human tackle, Six rammed his shoulder directly into the busted door, busting the broken and warped metal of the blast door. It fact, he went through the door with such force that he fell on his hands and knees.

_Suddenly, he wasn't on the Autumn anymore. He was carrying his squadmate Kat away from the Covenant glassing of New Alexandria. He pulled her up. She had fallen, shot in the leg, and he had gotten down to his knees to pick her up._

"_Come on Kat, get up!" Six yelled._

"_Come on!" Carter yelled._

_She could barely stand up, so almost all of her weight was balanced on him._

_He could hear the roar of a sangheili above. And a needle rifle shot._

_The sharp, deadly crystal flew through the air with deadly accuracy and implanted itself into the back of Kat's skull. Her legs gave out under her own weight. Kat's blood sprayed out of the back of her head onto Six's helmet. Her entire body went limp and collapsed. Six held on. He tried to get her to get up. It was useless. She was dead._

_She was dead._

"_Leave her, Six! Come on!" Emile shouted at him._

_No. They'd pay for this._

_Six ran forward and pulled out his DMR. He unloaded at least two dozen shots into two dozen Elites, a bullet for each of their brains. His team was gone. He was surrounded. He was killing them by the dozen, one by one._

"_SIX!" Someone yelled._

_He turned around with his gun raised. It was…_

John.

Everything dimmed. He looked around, breathing heavily.

"It's alright. They're dead." John said.

He was back on the Autumn.

"What? No, but I..." Six said quietly to himself. He looked to the floor in front of him.

Corpses of Sangheili. Everywhere. Littering the floor with their unsightly remains.

"How…" Six whispered.

"After you busted down the door, all of these Sangheili started firing on us. You pulled me through the door and dropped me behind cover. Then you took out your rifle and… You killed ALL of them. ALL of them, Six. Now I see why _you're_ classified as Hyper Lethal."

"Six, your heart rate is off of the charts." Cortana said.

"I'm fine. I'm okay." Six said.

"Are you sure?" John said.

"I just… Yeah. Let's get to the lifepods." Six said.

John looked at Six for a minute and wondered what Six's story was. He would have to ask him sometime. That was one of the few things that had disturbed him in a long time.

"Alright, let's go." John said.

* * *

They were finally at the lifeboats, despite the heavy resistance they had faced trying to get there since Six's episode. They ran through the corpses of Grunts and Elites as they ran to the last remaining lifeboat.

A running marine was thrown to the ground by a nearby explosion. "Agh! Son of a..."

"Get up, soldier!" Six yelled as he picked the soldier up and leaned into his weight.

As they ran into the lifeboat, Six realized just who he was carrying. It was none other than the marine that they had met earlier, Clancy Maegan. John looked outside with the barrel of his assault rifle, checking for enemies. There were none.

"Take a seat, Maegan." Six.

Clancy was surprised that Lieutenant Noble Six had remembered his name. He felt… Important.

"Thank you, sir, so much." Clancy said.

"No problem, kid." Six said back.

"Punch it!" John yelled.

"Aye aye, Sir!" the pilot of the lifeboat yelled back.

The lifeboat launched out of the Autumn's airlock.

"We're disengaged. Goin' for minimum safe distance." The pilot said.

"We're gonna make it, aren't we, sirs?" Clancy asked the two Spartans.

The Chief patted him on the shoulder, giving the Clancy substantial reassurance.

"We'll be fine, Clancy." Six said.

Clancy looked out of the window.

"What is that thing, exactly?" He asked.

"Hell if I know, but we're landin' on it." The pilot said.

"The Autumn! She's been hit!" A marine shouted.

The Chief dashed to the back of the lifeboat with Six as they both stared and watched the Autumn.

"I knew it! The Autumn is accelerating, Keyes is going in manually!" Cortana said.

The Autumn was suddenly hit multiple times by Plasma Torpedoes.

"Heads up everyone, this is it! We're entering the ring's atmosphere in five!" The pilot yelled.

"Sure you wouldn't rather take a seat?" Cortana said.

"We'll be fine." John said.

The Chief gripped the sides of the lifeboat, and bended his knees. Six followed suit.

"If I still had fingers, they'd be crossed..." Cortana said.

The Bumblebee headed into the ring's atmosphere.

Luck was all they had now.


	9. The Crash

Fire. Screaming. Blackness. Open eyes, then closed. Noble Six was alive. He looked up a bit, but he was slow to do it. He was aching all over. His HUD was buzzing and warping around. What had happened? All he could remember was… The crash!

_"We're coming in too fast!" Cortana had shouted._

_ The lifepod had been racing towards the ground at a lightning fast pace, trailing smoke as it went down._

_ "Damn! Air brake failure! They blew too early! I'm losin' her. Brace for impact!" The pilot shouted._

And then they had crashed into the floor of this planet.

"Chief? Six?" Cortana was saying. Six's ears were still ringing, and he could barely hear her.

Six stood up. "Cortana?" He said.

"At last! Are you alright? Can you move?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Is the Chief okay?"

"I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah. Yeah…Ouch. I am." John said as he stood.

Six could hear groaning from outside of the ship. He walked out and gazed at the surrounding area. They were in a mountainous, forest-like terrain. The area around them was scorched, burned by the crash landing of the lifepod.

"H…Help…Me." A familiar voice said.

Six knew that voice. It was the voice of Clancy Maegan, one of the marines that were on the Lifepod with them. He was pinned under a hunk of metal from the now destroyed ship, and he was bleeding from the mouth.

"Hey, hang in there, kid." Six said to him as he attempted to lift the metal.

"Just… Leave me." Clancy said.

"No way." Six replied. "Never leave a man behind."

Six let out a grunt and lifted the giant hunk of metal upwards, holding it in place for Clancy to crawl away. Unfortunately, Clancy didn't look like he could move very much.

"Chief! A little help here?" Six groaned as John walked out of the lifepod.

John ran over to the downed marine and dragged him from the place where he was lying and propped him up against a rock.

"Thank you… Sir." Clancy said as he spit a mouthful of saliva and blood onto the grass.

"You going to be alright, soldier?" John said to Clancy.

"Yeah, I… I think…So." Clancy said.

"Can you walk?" Six said as he walked over to John and Clancy.

Clancy stood first on one leg, then shifted his weight to both. He was surprisingly tough, Six thought. Remarkably, even.

"Is anyone else still alive, Cortana?" John said.

"No. "The others… The impact. There's nothing we can do." She replied.

"Damn." Six said. "Clancy, grab a weapon and get moving."

"I don't know if… I can keep up with you guys." Clancy replied.

"Then I'll carry you, damnit. I'm not leaving you behind if you have a chance at surviving. I'm not letting it happen again." Six shot back.

"Letting what happen again, Six?" John said.

There was a brief pause.

"Never mind. It isn't important" He replied.

"Alright. Let's get a move on." John said.

Before they had even got yards from the area, Cortana started getting bad readings.

"Warning! I've detected multiple Covenant drop ships on approach. I recommend moving into those hills. If we're lucky, the Covenant will believe that everyone aboard this lifeboat died in the crash." She said.

"Good plan, Cortana." John said.

They ran into the forest, Clancy speedwalking behind them.

"You sure you don't want me to carry you or something? You look pale." Six said.

"I'm fine. The bleeding stopped. I'll be okay in a few minutes." Clancy replied.

A few minutes passed. He looked a little bit better, but not by much.

"Clancy, I'm only gonna ask this one more time, are you sure that…" Six said as he trailed off.

Clancy wasn't there.

"John. Where the fuck did Clancy go?" Six said.

"I don't know. I thought he was behind us." John replied.

Suddenly, they could hear the sound of a creature making deep, throaty noises.

"Shit, that's gotta be a Sangheili." Six said.

"Maybe. Come on, let's go check it out." John said.

They approached the noise as it changed from louder to quitter. Deep, throaty noises. They burst out of the covering of the trees. They located the source of the throaty roars.

It was Clancy, puking in a lake.

They lowered their weapons.

"Jesus, Clancy. We thought you got snatched." John said.

"No… I just didn't want to…"

He retched.

"… Puke on your expensive boots." He said with a slight grin.

John chuckled.

Six sighed. "Get moving, Clancy."

"Sir, yes sir." Clancy replied.

They walked through a canyon, and approached a hill.

"I'm reading a lifeboat beacon over the next hill. We should check to see if there are any survivors." Cortana said.

"That would be a nice surprise." Six said.

They hit the top of the hill, and nearby they saw a group of marines. They approached them. At least they weren't the only survivors. Among them was Avery Johnson.

"Good to see you, sir! Welcome to the party!" One of the marines said.

Johnson turned to the Spartans and saluted.

"It's a mess. We're scattered all over this valley. We called for evac, but until you showed up, I thought we were cooked." He said.

"Don't worry, Sergeant. We'll stay here until evac arrives." Cortana said. Six guessed that she had the ability to speak aloud. That confused him, as then she wouldn't have needed to hack his suit…

_Ah, screw it._ He thought to himself.

Six's radio crackled to life.

"Heads up! I got a Covenant drop ship headin' in, over here!" A marine said over the radio.

Six could see it. A Covenant Phantom was approaching them at a fast pace. It parked itself directly above them and started firing its plasma cannon. A bolt went flying directly towards Johnson, and he didn't notice until a few seconds before it had almost hit him. Clancy tackled the Sergeant Major out of the way before he got hit.

Johnson looked directly at Clancy and saluted him. Clancy nodded and started unloading on Covenant soldiers. An RPG round flew through the air and struck the engine of the phantom, causing it to lose control. The Phantom's occupants jumped from the dropship and prepared to attack.

Several more dropships were approaching as the two Spartans and the group of marines took out Grunt after Grunt, Elites, and Jackals. They were outnumbered at least 5 to 1, but they wouldn't go down without a fight. The Phantoms that had been approaching were now right on top of them, too, shooting plasma and dropping more Covenant it to kill them. John had picked up a shotgun and was killing Elites by the score. Clancy and a few other marines thought that it would be a good idea to dual wield Assault Rifles and take down the Covenant twice as fast. Six liked that idea. He took his DMR and a Magnum and started unloading on Covenant, dropping them quickly. Bullets, grenades and plasma were all flying through the air, as were the corpses of a few unlucky Grunts. There were only a few more Elites, and after they were defeated, the area was clear.

"This is Pelican Echo 419. Anybody read me? Repeat: any UNSC personnel, respond." A marine's voice said over the radio.

Johnson spoke into his radio. "Roger, Echo 419. This is Fire Team Charlie. We read you. Is that you, Foehammer?"

"Roger, Fire Team Charlie. Good to hear from ya!" Foehammer responded.

"If you're not too busy, Foehammer, we could use a lift. We have survivors to transport to the Command Shuttle." Johnson said.

"I'm on my way." Foehammer said back.

"Look, more lifeboats! They're coming in fast. If those lifeboats make it down, the Covenant are going to be right on top of them." Cortana said.

She started communicating with Foehammer. "Foehammer, we need you to disengage your Warthog. The Spartans and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers." She said.

"Roger, Cortana. Warthog deployed. Saddle up and give 'em hell!"


	10. Abigail

The warthog caught a bit of air, then landed. Six and John were heading out to look for other survivors from the Autumn, and so far, their search had come up with nothing.

"Hold on. Stop." Six said.

John slammed the breaks and turned his head a bit in Six's direction. "What? What do you see?"

"There's a cave. Over there." He said as he pointed off into the distance.

"That cave is not a natural formation." Cortana said. "Someone built it, so it must lead somewhere."

"Alright, let's go there." John said.

"What're you tellin' me for? You're the one driving." Six said.

"Oh, shut up." John said.

Six chuckled for a little bit, then grabbed the handles of the warthog mounted Minigun. John pushed the gas pedal and they drove towards the cave.

When they got there, they were welcomed by silence.

It was too quiet.

"I've hacked into the Covenant battlenet. They're actually broadcasting tactical data on unencrypted channels!" Cortana said. " We should show them who they're dealing with. Master Chief, I'm going to use your suit's transponder system to monitor their chatter."

"Hey, Cortana, link me up, too." Six said.

"Will do, Six." Cortana said.

They walked around the cave for a while, looking for any signs of sentient life. There were none.

"Hey, Six! Come look at this!" John shouted.

Six ran over to John and was greeted by a spectacular view of a large cavern, with a chasm dividing the floor into two halves. It was a nice sight.

"Do you think that we can cross this thing?" Six said.

"Maybe we could—" John was cut off by the roar of a Sangheili.

Covenant, everywhere, surrounding them on all sides. Elites, Grunts and Jackals all around.

"Get down!" John yelled.

Six slammed his body to the floor behind a boulder.

Six could hear the sounds of Covenant weapons going off from behind cover. He popped up. Took a shot. Went back down again. He popped up a few seconds later and shot a few rounds at a couple of Grunts. Suddenly, a shout from behind by a high pitched voice startled him. He whipped around and saw a Grunt running right at him with two plasma grenades it its hands.

"Oh, shit!" Six said as he dodged the first grenade.

Instead of throwing the second grenade, however, the Grunt decided that he would take Six down with him, and jumped on Six's back. He tried to plant it on Six's neck, but missed and dropped it to the floor as Six was trying to shake him. Six threw the Grunt on the ground in front of him, directly on top of the plasma grenade, and dove away from the explosion backwards, having no time to turn around and run.

"You okay?" John said.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just… Just fine." Six replied over the sound of gunfire.

There were more Covenant approaching from Six's side, maybe a dozen elites and a handful of jackals. He pulled his DMR up and aimed down the scope. Then he fired three bullets, going into the neck of a Jackal, the skull of an Elite, and the chest of another Jackal. He unloaded the rest of his clip with extreme precision, killing Covenant with every bullet in his clip.

"How's your side!?" Six yelled

"Working on it!" John replied.

It took them almost four more minutes before the rest of the Covenant in the cave were killed. Both John and Six had resorted to Covenant weaponry, as their own was depleted. After picking up a new clip for his Carbine, Six turned around to face the monstrous chasm. Hundreds of feet deep, and no visible way to cross. Naturally.

"Hmm…" John grunted.

"There must be some mechanism to cross this cavern. Look for a control panel or switch." Cortana said.

"Aright, let's get searching then." John said.

Within a short period of time, John had found a control panel.

"Hey, Six! Found something." John said.

"Is it a switch or anything? Does it turn something on?" Six replied as he climbed up to the balcony that John was currently on.

"I don't know, I haven't pressed it yet." John replied.

Six gave John an _are you serious_ look, then pushed the button on the control panel. The button activated a series of four giant silver beam-generating bridges that extended across the chasm, forming a surface made of hard light. It was a nice sight, but they didn't exactly have time for sightseeing.

"Let's cross this thing." Six said.

"Right behind you." John said.

They crossed the hard light bridge one their warthog and navigated through a few tunnels. Six's radio crackled to life.

"New traffic on the Covenant Battlenet... a lot more crew made it off the Autumn than I had predicted - the Captain really gave them hell! If we can find Captain Keyes and other survivors, we have a chance to coordinate an effective resistance." Cortana said.

"And then. Hopefully, we can keep the Covenant's hands off of Halo." Six said.

"Exactly." Cortana responded.

They arrived at the exit of the cave and were greeted by nearly the same terrain as before. Grassy, green earth, tall trees, and tremendous mountainsides. But there was something different. Six couldn't put a finger on it. Then, he spotted it. Shadowy smoke wafting into the air off in the distance. Six guessed that John saw it too, because he pointed it out first.

"Look over there. Smoke. It might be from one of the lifeboats." He said.

"Maybe. Let's check it out." Six said.

And with that, they drove towards the smoke.

* * *

Clancy's feet were getting tired. Any moment he felt like he might collapse. The wound on his hip he got from the crash had reopened, and he had to get it gauzed up to stop the bleeding. He wished someone could take his place, but there weren't exactly soldiers lined up and ready. They were short on men when they crashed, and Clancy was hoping that Six and John weren't food for the wildlife. They were probably fine. They were Spartans. They were unstoppable. New tears filled his eyes.

The same couldn't be said about Abigail.

His sister had boarded one of the lifeboats and made a crash landing on the planet as well. While Six and John were out searching for survivors, a small group of marines were, too. They had come across a crashed lifeboat nearby their campsite. Clancy was looking for survivors, and he came across her. Her face was charred, burned. One of her legs was gone. Her knuckles were worn and bloody. But the worst part of it all was that he was the one who had to find her. He had stood there, just looking at her. Her features were marred and dirty, and her uniform was torn where her leg was severed.

And then, another marine found her leg. He had no idea whose leg it was, but he was making a joke about it, the insensitive prick. Something about it being a shame that whoever the woman who used to have it had to "go to waste". Rage filled his being, and he had tackled the soldier and beaten the shit out of him. Knocked his helmet off. The guy was scared and confused, and he had a bloody nose. Clancy had gotten off of him and looked at his hands.

They looked just like his sister's. Bloody and beaten.

"Why the fuck did you do that?!" the marine had shouted, scared out of his mind.

Clancy looked at the marine with the coldest stare that he could possibly make. He grabbed the marine by the vest and rammed him into the side of the lifeboat with the strength of a Spartan as the lower down soldiers watched with fear.

"That leg is my sister's, you fucker!" Clancy boomed into the frightened marine's face.

He lost control of his hands and just let go. The marine slid down the side of the lifeboat like a ragdoll and looked with guilty eyes as Clancy looked at his hands, put them in his face, and cried. It was a soft cry, hard to hear, but you could tell he was crying. After a period of staring from the other marines, Clancy walked over to the leg that was once Abigail's, picked it up, and went inside of the lifeboat. The other soldiers watched as Clancy came out of the lifeboat with his sister's body and her leg, dug a shallow grave with his knife and his hands, and buried his sister. As he was about to put the final few handfuls of dirt covering her face, he looked at her for the last time. He looked at her pretty hazel eyes and closed the lids.

He covered his sister's face up with the soft earth and took a couple of sticks, tying them together with a long, narrow leaf, and stuck it at the head of the dirt, marking her grave. He sat down in front of the grave and just looked at it.

No one but the few marines knew, and they were all obligated to not tell anyone, as they were all lower ranks than he, and Clancy had told them to never speak of it.

When the other marines got back to the campsite, the one Clancy beat up said that he tripped on a rock.

The others said the same.

* * *

**Sorry to end this chapter on a sad note.**

**To those who believe that Clancy will die, don't worry, he isn't going to. I'm planning on making him into a bigger character, and a stronger one, too.**

**Keep reading, Wolfgang.**

**~Husky**


	11. The Cavern

"Run! RUN!" Six was yelling. John was sprinting right behind him, and a handful of marines were following the two. And behind _them_ was a LEGION of Covenant. When Six and John had sought out the source of the smoke, they had stumbled across a lifeboat with a few survivors. Over the next hour or so, they found two more lifeboats, each with a couple of marines. When they reached the third lifeboat, however, they gathered the attention of a squad of Sangheili, and they soon alerted an entire fighting force of the Spartans' presence. Now they were being hunted.

The only good news that came out of this search, minus the dozen marines that they found, was that Cortana figured out that the Covenant had secured the Pillar of Autumn. Of course, the only good thing about this was that Captain Keyes was still alive. The bad news was that the Covenant had captured the entire command crew. Not exactly the best trade off, but that was the closest to good news that anyone had gotten since the crash landing.

One of the marines tripped and fell to the ground, then disappeared into the horde. He was dead, surely. What a terrible way to go.

"New traffic on the Covenant battlenet." Cortana suddenly said. "I've found Captain Keyes! He's being held on a Covenant cruiser, the _Truth and Reconciliation_, a ship I disabled before we abandoned the Autumn."

"Any idea where this thing is?!" Six said as he ran.

"The _Truth and Reconciliation_ touched down on a desert plateau roughly three hundred kilometers up-spin." Cortana replied.

"Fantastic. We can get _there_ in no time!" Six said sarcastically.

John looked behind them. The horde was still running, but not in the group of 6 or so dozen that they were before.

"The bulk of the Covenant are retreating!" John yelled.

Six looked behind him to see how many were left. Not nearly as many as before.

A marine pulled out his Battle Rifle and shot as he ran. He killed an Elite, then turned and kept running.

"Good shot, kid!" Six yelled back, and he turned his head forwards and kept running. As soon as he turned his head, Six nearly tripped over a log, but he jumped it and kept moving.

Echo 419, AKA Foehammer, was getting ready to pick up the Spartans and the soldiers. It landed at least twenty yards in front of them, and opened its back so everyone could get in.

"There's our ride! Get aboard, and let's get out of here!" Cortana said.

"Way ahead of you." John said. "C'mon everyone!"

Every soldier in the camp, including Clancy Maegan, ran to the back of the ship. Every one of the two dozen-ish marines fit into the ship, though it took some squeezing in.

"We should move out, Lieutenant. And then we'll need your help on our rescue mission." Cortana said.

"You got it, ma'am." Foehammer said.

And with that, they took off for the _Truth and Reconciliation_, to save Captain Keyes.

* * *

_A few hours later…_

"The enemy has captured Captain Keyes, and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers, the Truth and Reconciliation. The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau." Cortana said.

"So how do we get inside the ship if it's in the air?" Clancy said. "The Corps issued me a rifle, not wings."

"There's a Gravity Lift that ferries troops and supplies between the ship and the surface. That's our ticket in." A soldier, Staff Sergeant Parker, said.

Foehammer touched down, and Cortana continued her briefing.

"Once we get inside the ship, I should be able to lock on to the tracking signal from Captain Keyes' neural implants." She said.

"Everybody out!" A marine said.

"Hit it Marines, go go go!" The Staff Sergeant said. "The Corps ain't payin' us by the hour!"

A group of marines, Six and John got off of the ship. Among the marines was Clancy.

Six chuckled to himself. "You know, everywhere we are, you seem to follow. One hell of a coincidence."

"Sure is, sir." Clancy said as he wrapped his worn and bloody knuckles around his assault rifle.

"Your surname is Maegan, right?" Six asked Clancy.

"Yes sir, it most certainly is." Clancy replied.

"That name is familiar. Did you have any family on the Autumn, Clancy?" Six asked.

"Um… Y…Yes sir. My sister." Clancy replied with his voice coated in new sorrow.

Six didn't notice the tone of his voice. "Where is she now?"

Clancy paused.

"She's dead." He said.

Six immediately tried to comfort him. He took off his helmet and looked at Clancy.

"I'm sorry, Clancy." He said as he put a hand on his shoulder.

Clancy shrugged it off. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"Trust me, I know what it's like to—"

"You don't. You'll never know. You're lucky." Clancy replied.

"I do, and I'm NOT. I've lost everyone I've ever cared about. My entire squad was killed one by one, and it's my fault. I could have saved every one of them, but I didn't. Don't put your sister's blood on your hands. It was those ugly bug motherfuckers, not you."

Clancy sighed. He looked Six in the face.

"Then don't blame yourself for all of your loss. My sister's death WAS my fault. I could have been there with her in that lifeboat, I could have saved her." He said.

"And died along with her? Get your head out of your ass, Corporal. You're here now, and you are one goddamn tough sonofabitch. Get through it. I did." Six told him.

Clancy looked at Six, sighed again, and looked forward. He had a point.

"I'll try." He said.

"Good." Six said back.

The squad was getting close to the _Truth and Reconciliation_, and the surrounding area was swarming with Covenant. Elites, Grunts, Jackals and Hunters all over the place.

"Stick to the higher ground on the right. We should be able to recon the Covenant position without being spotted. I'm detecting Covenant Stationary Guns near the next pass. I recommend using your Sniper Rifle to take out the gunners while I call for Marine support." Cortana said.

She started communicating over the radio to Staff Sergeant Parker.

"Get ready to move in to support us, Sergeant. Lieutenant Noble Six is going to covertly take out as many of the Covenant as he can. He has the most experienced stealth training out of anyone here, so don't open fire until you hear the enemy return fire on us. That should let us keep the element of surprise." She said.

Six was ready for just about anything at this point. But deep down, in his gut, he knew for an absolute fact that this was going to get really ugly.

And quickly.

* * *

**Sorry for the short-ish chapter this time, didn't have enough time as the school year is coming to a close. I swear, pulling my grade up in math is about as easy as debeaching a whale with a shotgun.**

**Six gave Clancy a little bit of hope, so that's good.**

**I'm thinking, If people like THIS fanfic, I wonder how I would do with another? If anyone in the comments has any ideas or stories that they'd like to see, I'd be happy to oblige. A specific rule though;**

**No MLP, please.**

**Keep reading, dudes and gals!**

**~Husky**


	12. An Arm's Length

It was the peak of night, the moon directly above Six's head. He was laying in the tall grass, perched on a cliff nearby the _Truth and Reconciliation_. He was looking outwards at the hordes of Covenant ahead of him, and at the enourmous CSS BattleCruiser itself. There were dozens of dozens of Covenant ahead of him, hundreds at least. A ship that large DID command for a large crew. Six's only worry was how he was supposed to get to Captain Keyes and the rest of the _Pillar of Autumn_'s crew without being seen. He would have to be perfectly silent.

And he had the perfect way to do it.

Before he left, he asked a few marines if they could spare an extra canteen. One soldier actually did have a second unused canteen, and handed it to Six. The Sniper Rifle that they had given him didn't have a silencer, so he used that extra canteen, and some good old-fashioned duct tape, to make a makeshift silencer for himself. He fired a shot into the ground before he left. It worked perfectly.

The marine who had given him the canteen called him a genius.

He looked through the scope of the Sniper. He never did feel comfortable with one of these things, no matter how much he trained with it. The first time he ever held one, it recoiled into his face and almost broke his nose.

He could see a lot of Covenant from afar, but up close, it looked like there was more than he thought. Groups of Elites carrying ammo crates, and grunts sleeping, like they always did. He was lucky that he was far away, in the night, and camouflaged, otherwise, the brigade of Jackals would most definitely have seen him.

This situation reminded him a lot of Jun.

Six moved up, crouched so he wouldn't be seen by Covenant patrols.

He had always hated Covenant, but up close, they were just plain nasty. Their grotesque features and wrinkled skin always had the effect of giving him goose bumps, no matter how warm it was. He unsheathed his brand-new, carbon fiber blade for the first time whilst hiding in the grass, playing with the handle of the knife, spinning the blade around until he grew bored, assessing his situation and trying to come up with a legitimate plan that wouldn't get him killed. He held the knife blade down, so he could plunge the knife into someone's neck.

_Okay… stick to the shadows, and be fucking quiet this time. This can't go like when Jun got… killed._

A singular Elite was straying towards him. He sidestepped around it in total silence, snuck up behind it, and grabbed the back of its neck, forcing his blade up into the Sangheili's neck. It made a gurgling noise, spouted purple blood from its windpipe, then collapsed, dead.

This routine went on for another twenty or so minutes and had many close calls. Six hid the bodies in places covered in shadow, and in the tall grass so he could avoid detection. That was the last thing he needed.

Another ten minutes passed. So far, he had killed maybe a few dozen Covenant, including a few Grunts who decided to take a nap while on patrol. But there was one thing that Six didn't quite understand. He had been out here for a half an hour, and still no one had noticed his handiwork. He could have sworn there should have been a few who noticed their comrades gone. He pushed the thought out of his mind. He went back to work.

Nine kills and a lucky escape or two later, Six was getting close to the Battlecruiser. He was sure that the guards on the _Truth and Reconciliation_ were better at their jobs than the ones out here.

Six felt a hand grab his thigh. He whipped around. A Sangheili had snatched the magnum he was carrying in his side holster. He aimed it the air and fired it, alerting the whole base. Six was amazed that anyone, human or not, had snuck up on him. He had no time to marvel, however, as this now posed a giant problem, that problem being about one hundred and sixty assorted Covenant heading in his tackled the Elite and snatched the magnum out of his hand, pressed the magnum to its temple, then pulled the trigger, spilling Sangheili blood and brains onto the grass. Six could hear Jackals and more Sangheili roaring, ready for battle. But behind him, he could hear something just as terrifying.

The only difference being that it didn't want to shoot him.

Marines started pouring over the hill, assault rifles firing next to assorted weapons and grenades. At the head of the crowd, leading the, was the Master Chief, or, as Six had grown accustomed to calling him, John. Six admired the other Spartan for his seriousness and his dry sense of humor. In that way, the two were a lot alike.

"Let 'em have it!" A marine yelled.

Through the gunfire, Six saw a Grunt running towards a shade turret. Not good. He pulled out his DMR and fired on the Grunt. The cover of night made it hard to see where he was shooting, but then he remembered that his helmet had a night vision feature. He turned it on and landed an immediate headshot on the Grunt. He ran with the speed of a cheetah to the turret and mounted it, firing upon the Covenant with their own weapons.

A majority of the Covenant around the _Truth_ were simply corpses now, and the few who knew what would happen if they stuck around ran for their lives. Six dismounted the shade turret and ran to John.

"Hey." John said to him. "How many did you get with that thing?" John asked, pointing to Six's blood-drenched combat knife.

"Eh. A few dozen. I could have done better." Six replied.

"Jesus, that's a lot. I'm experienced in stealth ops, but I'm not that good." John said.

"That's because I'm better at this than you are." Six shot back with a sideways smile.

"Oh, hush." John said back with a grin.

Six chucked and looked at John. "Come on. We have to keep up with the others, pick it up." He said.

"Alright. Will do, sir." John said.

Six groaned. He hated it when people called him sir, and John knew it. It made him feel old.

It was John's turn to laugh. They picked up the pace a bit and set off towards the battlecruiser.

* * *

Clancy had gunned down a few Covenant in the firefight, and it made him feel a little bit better. Who knew shooting killer aliens was such great stress relief? He had thought about what Lieutenant Noble Six had said earlier that night, about his sister's death not being his fault. He realized how quick he was to blame himself for what had happened, but he felt like he was responsible for her. They were almost inseparable since she was born, and to lose her now and the way he did was a heartbreaking and terrifying thing.

Clancy spotted Six in the crowd of at-the-ready marines, talking to the Master Chief. He approached them. Six was laughing about something the Chief had said, so Clancy decided that this was a good enough time as any to initiate conversation.

"Hi, sirs. What're you laughing about?" Clancy said.

"Hmm? Oh, hey Clancy. John was just telling me a joke. Want to hear it?" Six said.

"Uh, sure." Clancy said.

John looked at Clancy. "What do you call a Sangheili on a unicycle?"

Clancy thought for a moment. "I'm not sure, sir."

Six was cracking up. "A Sangwheelie!" he said loudly, then proceeded to bust out laughing.

Clancy laughed, too. "You know, now that humor is pretty much void around here, I can understand why you'd laugh at that." He said.

"Well, stupid puns have made me crack up since I first heard 'em." Six said. "What can I say? I have a stupid sense of humor."

Just then, a fresh horde of Covenant dropped down from the battlecruiser's gravity lift, causing jubout every single soldier within a hundred feet to draw their guns.

"Covenant forces sighted!" Staff Sergeant Parker shouted. "Let's hit 'em, Charlie team!"

Everyone opened fire at once, both humans and Covenant

Clancy raised his gun and started to fire.

* * *

Six was firing madly, hitting every Covenant he laid eyes on, dropping them like stones. He emptied clips into oncoming Covenant, killing them by the score. One shot, two shots, four, six, ten, all headshots or vital hits.

And then came the grenade.

He had no idea where it had come from, but a plasma grenade was flying through the air, and it looked like it was heading straight for John and a few other marines.

He ran as fast as he could to John, four yards to the left of him, to warn him, but there was no time. He took a leap, and stopped the grenade from making contact with the soldiers. But there was only one problem.

It stuck to him, instead.

The now live plasma grenade was stuck on his hand, and about three seconds from exploding

"SON OF A BI—" Six shouted, but was cut off from the explosion and the nerve-wracking pain that was shooting up his arm.

"SIX!" John yelled as he tried to put together what had just happened. He ran over to him.

Six had just saved his life.

Six lay there on the grass screaming. He tried to take off his helmet, but he couldn't. He looked at his hand, and figured out why.

His entire arm, fingers to shoulder, wasn't there.

"AGHHH! SON OF A… BITCH! AGH!" Six screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Just hang on!" He yelled. "MEDIC?! IS THERE A MEDIC ANYWHERE?!"

"Six, I've lost vitals for your left arm! What the hell happened?!" Cortana said worriedly.

"Cortana, his arm is fucking gone!"

"Jesus…" Clancy said as he looked at where Six's arm used to be.

A medic ran up to Six and started cauterizing the wound with an engineer's blowtorch

Six passed out from the pain.

* * *

**Sorry, I don't really have enought time to say much today, but keep reading, dudes and dudettes!**

**~Husky**


	13. Finally Awake

_Falling. Through the sky, he fell, weightless. In the orbit of a human planet, Spartan Noble Six was sinking through space. He looked ahead of him. The Covenant Corvette was flying above, and he was floating away. Jorge had thrown him out of the ship so he could manually detonate the slipspace bomb they had brought aboard. Six looked at his hand. Jorge's dogtags were in his clenched fist. The bomb detonated. Six looked up. An enormous void consumed the Corvette, and its entire midsection, along with Jorge, was disintegrated._

_ Jorge's last words rang in Six's ears._

_ "Tell 'em to make it count." He had said._

* * *

Six woke up with a shock. His armor was gone. He was wearing the thick black bodysuit of his Mark V armor, but it was opened up. Several suction cups, needles, and straps were connected to him. He tried to lift his arm, but he couldn't, for some reason. He looked down at his left arm.

It wasn't his. There were metal pieces and joints, screws and bolts. There were wires and pipes and little metal washers and all sorts of other technology that he didn't know the names for. It looked a bit like Kat's robotic arm, but it was thicker, and looked stronger. He tried to lift it again. Nothing.

He had forgotten what had happened. He tried to recall the events before he was here, wherever this was. There was a grenade, and he had tried to… No. He HAD saved John. And the grenade had blown his arm off…

And now he was here.

"Hello? Anyone…?" Six said with a hoarse voice.

Only silence greeted him.

"Great." He mumbled to himself.

A machine to his right made a ticking noise, and a few others beeped. He felt a cold sensation in his chest, where one of the needles was. His eyes started to close, but not before he caught a glimpse of a few marines outside. At least there were humans.

He blacked out.

* * *

He woke up later, what he assumed to have been at least a few hours. He looked back down at his body. The bodysuit was now closed, and his armor was back on him. The left shoulder was disintegrated. There was nothing keeping him from getting out of bed now, except for the blanket that was over his lower abdomen. He pulled the blanket down and sat upright. He used both arms, and nearly fell off of the bed trying to get up. His muscles felt so weak. He tried to stand. He couldn't. He tried again. He stood with one foot, then shifted his weight to both. He had trouble standing. He had never felt this much pain in his life, next to when his arm was actually blown off. He shuffled over to one of the pieces of medical equipment and leaned on it. His vision was a little blurry. He rubbed his eyes. His vision cleared. He made the mistake of trying to push himself up with his now fully operational prosthetic. The strength of the arm was almost enough to push him to the floor. For some reason he thought that it would be a struggle. He walked slowly to the opening of his tent and pushed through it.

Several Marines stood up and saluted him. One of these marines was, predictably, Clancy Maegan.

Six saluted the marines back and kneeled down to catch his breath.

"Where am I?" Six asked.

"You're still with us, if that's what you're asking." Clancy said to him as he walked towards him. "Good to see you're okay, sir."

"You too, Clancy." Six said as he patted him on the back with his new arm.

"Ouch. You pat hard." Clancy said.

"Sorry. Where's John?" Six asked. "And my Helmet?"

"They put your helmet right here there." Clancy said as he grabbed Six's helmet that lay next to the entrance of the tent. "As for the Chief, he's headed out on another mission."

"How long was I out?" Six asked as they walked.

"I dunno, maybe… five, six hours."

"Six hours? Goddamn. I miss anything?"

"Cortana found something big. Something called the "Silent Cartographer""

"What the hell is that supposed to be, then?"

"Apparently, it's some sort of map room on Halo."

"Anyone figure out what this 'Halo' is?"

"Well, if the Covenant harness its power, they can use it as a weapon."

"Then we can't let them get their hands on it. I'm going to see what I can do about helping John on his little mission."

"But Six..." Clancy said. "You should probably get some more rest. After all, you did just get your arm vaporized, and, well…"

"Well what?" Six replied.

"No offense, but you're weak right now. You need to get your strength up." Clancy said.

Six chuckled. "No rest for the wicked, Maegan." He shot back.

Six snatched the helmet out of Clancy's hand and jogged slowly towards a pelican, ready for combat mentally, but not physically. His suit was helping him carry himself a bit, and he was less sore, but not nearly combat ready. Six didn't care though. If he thought he was ready, then he was, end of story.

He was a stubborn bastard that way.

* * *

**Sorry for the SUPER short chapter this time. I'm getting friendly complaints that I don't write enough per chapter, so I will try to improve how long each of my chapters from now on will be, hopefully getting them to be around 2,000 words or so.**

**I'm contemplating trying to fit a few changes to the story in the next couple of chapters, but I'm a little unsure if I can pull it off in style, as I don't really know as much about the Halo universe as I used to.**

**Another side note, this fanfic WILL be going from Halo: CE to whatever the newest Halo is when I'm done, be it Halo 4 or Halo 5: Guardians, which sounds and looks goddamn great. I hope that the love that some people have for my writing has enough staying power for quite a long time, and it would make me very happy if it did.**

**Keep reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	14. The Reunion

Locked in battle for what felt like hours, John-117 had just been fighting his way to the Silent Cartographer, the map room that, if followed correctly, could lead humanity to the Halo's controls before the Covenant got their hands on them. He was fighting two Hunters at the same time, supported by several Grunts and Jackals. He wasn't having a hard time, exactly, but he wished that he had some help. Just then, he wondered how Six was doing. He might be dead, or alive, or somewhere in between. He really had no way of knowing. He popped up from cover. He fired his last clip of assault rifle ammo into the neck of the first Hunter, stunning it momentarily but not killing it. All he had left was a magnum, and a few grenades. He could kill at least one of the Hunters, but what about the other one? Hit it in the face? He needed a plan, and he wasn't exactly overflowing with those at the moment.

"I got your back!" Someone shouted from behind him. He whipped around and looked to find the source of the voice. He heard mechanical whirring as the figure lifted his arm and fired at the Hunter with a magnum. The Hunters looked directly at him and fired plasma blasts from their arm cannons. The figure ducked and rolled, then ran towards the first Hunter full speed. It tried to hit him with an uppercut with its arm shield, but the figure just used it as a springboard, effectively launching him into the air in a massive jump. He came down with such force that his hand went clean through the soft tissue of the Hunter's face, killing it lightning fast.

"I guess hitting it does work." John said under his breath.

He vaulted over his cover and ran at the second Hunter, tossing a grenade behind it's shield. It curled up to protect itself, but it was a futile attempt, as the grenade exploded against the slimy and soft flesh of its abdomen, stunning it. John took this opportunity to attack. He ran up to the now dazed hunter and full force kicked it with the power of both legs, knocking it flat. He jumped on it while it was down and cut its throat with his combat knife, ending the fight.

John stood up and looked at the figure.

"Hey, buddy." Six said.

John stared for a moment, then he smiled under his helmet. "Back already?" He asked. He looked down at Six's left arm. "I see that they found you a replacement."

Oh yeah. I have no clue how they put together a prosthetic so quickly, but I'm assuming they took no chances with their time limit. This this is strong. I feel like I could punch a hole through something. Or, better yet, someone."

John paused for a minute, then spoke up.

"Shouldn't you be resting or something?" John said. "Your arm got blown off like, what, not even twelve hours ago?"

"Eight hours. And I'm fine. I'm just a little sore is all." Six shot back.

"Okay. I'm just saying—"

"I get it, John."

Six's radio turned on. It was Cortana."I'm glad to see you're still with us, Noble Six." She said.

"So am I, Cortana." Six said back. "What're we trying to find, exactly? I was a bit… Late to the party."

"Well, the Covenant believe that what they call the "Silent Cartographer" is somewhere under this island. The Cartographer is a map room that will lead us to Halo's control center. The island has multiple structures and installations. One of them contains the map room, and it's our job to find it. If we don't…"

"The Covenant will control Halo." John finished for her.

"Yikes. I'm not letting that happen." Six said. "Where are we right now?"

""This isn't the map room. Analyzing..."

There was a brief pause.

"This is a security override station for the main facility, located somewhere else on this island. Shut the system down so the Covenant won't be able to lock us out." Cortana said.

"You got it." Six said. "I'll be right back."

A few minutes late, after figuring how to shut down the security, Six returned to the security override station. A new door had opened in the room.

"So I guess we're going through there, huh?" Six said.

"Seems so." John said.

"Alright then. Let's get moving." Six said.

* * *

The two Spartans were walking down the newly opened hallway, and so far had encountered no resistance. It was quiet.

"I don't like this at all. It's too quiet." Six said.

"Me neither." John said.

Suddenly, the two Spartans' radios crackled.

"Mayday, mayday! Dropship Bravo 022 taking enemy fire! Repeat! We are under heavy fire and are losing altitude!"

"Understood. We're on our way." Cortana said. "Move it, you two!"

They ran towards Bravo 022's location, but Six stopped after about ten feet. John stopped too, and looked back at Six.

"What?" John said.

Six's hand slid towards his hip a little.

"DUCK!"

John complied and crouched quickly. Out of nowhere, an energy sword appeared where John's neck was. Six drew his magnum and fired a shot at what seemed to be nothing. The form of an energized shield appeared, and a Sangheilli body materialized behind John.

"They're using stealth! Be careful!" Six yelled as he fired more shots.

John drew his assault rifle and fired at the now not-so-invisible Sangheilli. It roared and tried to slice john horizontally across the stomach. John moved his abdomen all the way back and curved himself to avoid it, then grabbed the Elite's arm, ripped the sword from its hand, and shoved it directly into its chest. It hit the ground with a cry as more Sangheilli took its place. At least four other stealth Sangheilli had materialized nearby, and they were combat ready. Six ran towards one of them, and with a high-powered robotic punch, he smashed his prosthetic hand directly through the Elite's shield, armor, skin, and bones, coming out the other side with a bloody explosion of Sangheilli guts and gore. He lifted the Elite with his one arm and tossed the now corpse at the others. They roared and started firing. John bolted towards them, having no other choice due to the confinement of the hallway. He ripped the knife from his belt and dual wielded it with his energy sword. He sliced at a nearby Sangheilli, but it dodged the attack and tried to hit him in the face, also missing. He faked it out by pretending to slice at it, causing it to lose its balance, then stepped on the side of its knee, breaking its leg and bringing it to the floor. With a sickening spurt of purple blood, John plunged the combat knife into the Sangheilli's forehead, killing it instantly. He turned. Six was occupied with the other two Sangheilli at the moment, so John turned, believing that Six was perfectly fine. Mid turn, he was batted into the wall by a Sangheilli general, bringing his shields down low. He got up and engaged in combat with the General. In the meantime, Six was blocking every single punch that the Sangheilli were throwing at him. He didn't even have to think, his new arm just reacted even faster that his brain did. Whatever it was, it was helping him greatly. He pulled out his DMR and fired four rounds into the Sangheilli on the left's chin, then caught it as it fell down. He whipped around, still holding the body, as the other Elite chopped downwards with its energy sword. It caught on the corpse, spraying blood in its face, effectively blinding it. Six pushed the body against the Elite, pushing it into the wall with great force. The Sangheilli roared directly in his face, getting Sangheilli saliva on his visor. He drew back with his robotic fist.

"Roar." He said.

He took his prosthetic and punched hard, shattering the Elite's skull and killing it. He looked over at John. He was still stuck in combat with the General, and it was a very even fight. Six unevened it by throwing the body of its comrade into the General, stunning it. John finished the fight with a spinning flourish, using his momentum to cut with the force of an industrial saw. He buried the energy sword into the General's neck, finishing the battle. For the moment.

The corridor was littered with Sangheilli bodies. Six looked at John, and John did the same. The started laughing and gave each other an epic high five. They parted, then ran down the hallway. Now was the time to get out of there.

* * *

**HOORAY FOR ACTION SCENES!**

**Keep reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	15. Underground Exploration

Noble Six and John-117 exited the security substation and were greeted with the sight of Bravo 022's remains. The Pelican had crash landed on the beach after being shot down by Covenant forces. Six looked over near the crash site. Bodies of marines were scattered about the wreckage like ragdolls, and the Covenant were sniffing about the Pelican, looking for something.

"Jesus. Look at them all. Alot of Covenant to surround one crash site." Six said to Cortana.

"Bravo 022 was bringing us some heavy weapons. After I saw we were up against Hunters, I thought you could use them." She replied.

"Well, that means that we should probably get them, huh?" Six said.

"Yup." John said.

"Alright. Stay low." Six replied.

The two Spartans crouched down and proceeded slowly down to the wreckage. There were numerous Covenant, including Grunts, Elites, and Jackals, but they were few and far apart, so they were easy to dodge. When they finally got to the crashed Pelican, they had gone unnoticed.

"Woah. That's a lot of guns." Six said.

There were rocket launchers, shotguns, grenades and landmines lining the cargo hold.

"Take what you can carry. I'm just gonna grab me…"

He grabbed a pair of shotguns.

"…Two of these."

"Sergeant Johnson would be envious." John said as he grabbed a few mines and a rocket launcher. "Do you think we can get back up there unnoticed?"

"Maybe. Let's try and find a way back in. Stay quiet." Six replied.

"Trust me, I'm good at that." John said back.

The two had to circle around and get back to the Cartographer's entrance. Six almost walked in before he saw the second pair of Hunters that they had to deal with in that day.

"Great. Another pair of 'em."

"Well, this will be my fifth and sixth Hunter encounter of the day."

"You mean third and fourth?"

"No."

"You fought two OTHER Hunters before I got here?"

"Yeah."

"Nice."

"Yeah, I got lucky."

"Alright. Let's see if we can kill these things quiet. If we can't…"

He pointed to the two shotguns on his back.

John nodded.

The two Spartans pulled out their combat knives and inched towards the Hunters, who currently had their backs turned. Six went in for the kill.

"Now!"

He thrust his combat knife into the now-alert Hunter's back, doing little else but pissing it off. John jumped on his Hunter's back and started stabbing it in the face-area. Six's turned around and started charging it's laser, so Six punched the laser cannon down hard with his left arm, putting a giant dent in it. This gave Six an idea. He punched the Hunter's shield, making a dent in that as well. While the Hunter was raising its cannon again, Six punched it back down, busting it. It tried to charge its cannon, but it stopped mid-charge. Six took the opportunity of the Hunter's surprise to punch it in the face with his human hand, causing it to spin, dazed. He took one of his shotguns and pushed the barrel against the Hunter's soft flesh, then pulled the trigger. Its own wormy membrane acted as a muffler, almost silencing the shotgun blast, killing the Hunter in the process. Six looked over at John. He was finishing up the fight, carving the Hunter like a Christmas ham. He gave one final stab, and the Hunter fell, sure to make a loud crashing noise. Six ran up and caught it with both arms before it could hit the floor. John jumped off of it, and Six placed the Hunter's corpse slowly on the ground.

"Nice one." Six said to John.

"You too." John said

"Thanks." Replied Six.

The two travelled back to the security room, unsure of what to do next.

"Anything new open up, Cortana?" Six said.

"Analyzing… Bingo. There is an entrance to an elevator shaft not far from here. I'll mark it for you." Cortana said.

"Thanks, Cortana." John said.

"No problem." She replied.

* * *

The two Spartans were now in the elevator shaft, and below them was a drop of an unknown distance.

John walked towards the edge and kicked a piece of debris off of the platform, down the elevator shaft. They never did hear a noise.

"We should stick to the platform. Long way down." Six said.

The elevator travelled down, down into the abyss. A few minutes later, it stopped.

Six's radio crackled to life. "Foehammer to ground teams, you got two enemy dropships coming in fast!"

"Dammit!" Sergeant Johnson said. "Okay, people, we got company comin', let's set the table. Engage enemy forces on sight!"

"It'll be easier to hold them off from inside the structure. Can you get inside?" Cortana asked.

"Negative! They're closin' in too fast, negative!" Johnson replied. "Chief! You gotta find the Cartographer! We'll keep 'em busy as long as we can!"

"Give 'em hell, Marine." Cortana said as she ended the transmission. "We'll be in a tight spot if we don't get out of here before additional reinforcements arrive. Let's find that map."

"Understood." Six said. He looked over at John. "You're a quiet one, aren't you?"

John looked up. "Just figured that out, did you?"

"Never mind. Not important anyways, Mr. Sourpuss."

John simply sighed and chuckled. Six smiled. He was surprised that he had made friends with the legendary Master Chief. Sure, his exploits were just as legendary, and maybe some of their friendship was built on pure respect for each other, but as far as he knew, John was a very closed up person before they met.

Six wondered why.

The two finally reached the Cartographer. When they entered the room, there was a table and a holo-panel.

"There. That holo-panel should activate the map." Cortana said.

John walked up to it and pressed it.

The table lit up, and above it, a holo display of Halo appeared from thin air. It span a bit, and then the Halo broke into sections before them.

"Analyzing... Halo's control center is located _there_." Cortana said as one particular piece enlarged and highlighted itself.

"That structure appears to be some sort of temple or shrine, if I've interpreted this correctly… Interesting…"

"What's interesting?" Six asked.

"A shrine is an unlikely place to put such a significant installation."

Six thought about that for a minute. "A shrine? Are you sure?"

"Gimmie a second, Six." Cortana said as she switched to radio-chat. "Cortana to Captain Keyes."

"Alright then." Six said. He looked over at John. John simply shrugged.

"The Captain has dropped out of contact, Cortana." Foehammer replied. "His ship may be out of range or having equipment problems."

"Keep trying. Let me know when you've reestablished contact, and then tell him that the Master Chief, Noble Six and I have determined the location of the control center. We'll be heading there as soon as we're topside." Cortana said.

"Affirmative. Foehammer out."

A large group of Elites poured out from behind them. Six pressed the holo-pad and shut down the display. He pulled his magnum and started firing. John unsheathed his energy sword and went to work on the bulk of them. He killed one or two, but he was soon shot, so he retreated back while carrying his assault rifle, firing on the enemy. Six drew his shotguns and held one in either hand, killing several of the Sangheilli. An Elite Zealot approached from the middle, roaring with his fist up in an ungodly war cry. He ran at Six while he had his back turned and stabbed him in the side with his wrist blades. Six grabbed his side and looked at the Zealot.

"You fucker!" Six yelled as he turned one of his shotguns on the Elite and pulled the trigger. The Zealot dropped with a thump.

Several more Elites occupied the room. Now there were at least one and one half dozen of them, give or take one or two. The entire tim, Six and John were firing round after round into the horde.

"Jesus, this is a nightmare! How could this get any worse?!" Six said.

His shotguns suddenly ran out of shells.

"Of course!" Six yelled. "I'm out of ammo!"

Even more Elites entered the room. "So am I!" John yelled.

"I'm assuming this is our cue to get out of here!" Six shouted over the sound of gunfire.

"Let's go." John replied loudly.

The two ran for a minute straight, finally getting to the surface with two dozen or more Elites following in their wake.

"Cortana to Echo 419. We are topside, requesting pickup."

"Roger. On my way." Foehammer replied.

"I'm getting really _sick_ of being chased all of the time!" Six yelled.

"Oh, save your energy!" John yelled back.

The Pelican landed about twenty yards in front of them. John and Six were running like cheetahs. Six threw one of his shotguns behind him, tripping an Elite and causing it to fall flat on its face.

"Haha! Gotcha!" Six yelled behind him.

"Jump!" John yelled.

The two Spartans lept the final four feet into the Pelican's back as it was taking off. It rose very quickly, the pilot obviously aware of the storm of Covenant behind them.

"Goddamn. That was the second time we've done that in two days." Six said.

"Not looking forward to doing that again." John said.

"Let's get moving. Foehammer. Here are coordinates and a flight plan I've worked out." Cortana said to the pilot.

"But, Cortana... these coordinates are underground." Foehammer said back.

"The Covenant did a thorough seismic scan. My analysis shows that Halo is honeycombed with deep tunnels - which circle the whole ring."

"Is that—" John said.

"No way." Six said

A structure in the Cartographer lifted up, revealing an underground tunnel.

"Are we going down there?" Six asked nervously.

"Yeah, I guess so. Why, Is there a problem?" John said.

"No." Six said quickly.

John gave him a look, which, even under his helmet, he could tell was doubting him.

"Okay, yes. I just… I _really_ don't like going underground." Six said.

"Oh, come on. Big bad Noble Six is afraid of a little dirt?"

"Fuck off." Six replied.

John just laughed. He was loving this.

"I hope your analysis is on-the-money, Cortana. This Pelican won't turn on a dime." Foehammer said.

"That's reassuring." Six said in a grim tone.

"Look on the bright side. The last thing the Covenant will expect is an aerial insertion... from underground."

The Pelican lowered down into the structure and the top closed with a crash. They were now submerged in complete darkness.

"Boo." Six heard john say.

"Fuck you." Six replied.

John just chuckled as they went further down into the caverns below.


	16. Sub-Zero

The Pelican containing Noble Six and John-117 rose upwards from the pit, startling a group of sleeping Grunts. The sound of Foehammer's jets alerted them to danger, and they ran for their lives. The Pelican turned around, back facing the platform, and the back door opened, revealing the two Spartans and several soldiers, all of them skilled and armed to the teeth.

"This is as far as I can go." Foehammer said.

"Roger that, we can find our way to the Control Center from here." Cortana responded.

"Good luck. Foehammer out."

The two Spartans and the handful of soldiers disembarked from the Pelican, guns drawn and at the ready. The few Covenant that had been near the landing site had run away, most likely to get help. Six had no doubts in his mind that they were everywhere around them.

John decided to open his mouth first. "Seems like it's your turn to be the quiet one. You haven't talked since we came down here."

"You know why." Six replied.

Six absolutely hated going underground. He had nothing against deep, dark caves and things like that, but as soon as he had to go into them, he felt like dropping everything and running. It was an irrational fear in his opinion, but he had good reason for it. Once, before he met Noble Team, he was on a mission, some place he couldn't remember nor pronounce the name of. The mission entailed an underground op, and he was found. Before he could escape, the cave's entrance was blown before he could escape, and rock trapped him on all sides. It took him seven and a half hours to dig his way out with his hands. The rock was so thick he couldn't use his coms until he made a hand-sized hole in the rock. He had to be very careful, or else the ceiling would have collapsed on him, and that would have been pretty bad. By the time he had gotten out, he was done with going below ground level.

He never did tell anyone in Noble Team, but he was freaking out the entire time while they were down in the cavern below Sword Base.

"Alright. I'm just saying, quiet isn't your style." John said. "Try and forget that we're down here…"

"Thanks." Six replied.

"…Hundreds of feet below ground…"

"…Yeah."

"…With no support for miles—"

"As your better, I command you to stop." Six said in a _very_ serious tone.

John saluted. "Sir, yes sir."

He almost sounded a little disappointed.

They approached a circular room that was relatively large. The strategist in Six said that it looked like a good place for an ambush, so he alerted everyone around him. He held a fist up, telling everyone to wait. He walked forward a bit, and looked ahead. Then he looked above him. It looked normal enough. Then the air moved. He looked closer. He could see the faint outlines of a dozen of Sangheilli with camouflage hiding on the upper level up the room. He walked back slowly, knowing that he was almost about to walk everyone into an ambush. He waved towards himself, and everyone followed.

"Here's the plan. We have to get to Halo's Control room, and there are at least a dozen stealth Elites hiding up on the second level in there. Me and the Master Chief are going to go in, you guys wait until you hear gunfire and explosions before you follow us." Six said.

The marines and John nodded, and then John followed.

"Pretty good plan. You sounded professional." John said as they snuck towards the room.

"I am professional, when I need to be. I just want to take my mind off of this underground thing." Six replied.

"Shhhh… What's up ahead?" John said.

"You mean past the Sangheilli? I'm assuming more of these rooms. The Covenant probably have this place locked down. Do you still have one of those land mines?"

"Yeah, I have both. Need one?"

"Yeah, give it here. I have a plan. Grab yours too. We're going to make some noise, then use them."

"I doubt that they're dumb enough to walk into them." John said.

"Who said that they were going to walk into them?" Six replied.

John looked at Six for a moment, then grinned under his helmet. "this ought to be good."

* * *

"Ready?" Six said to John.

"Ready." John said to Six.

Six ran into the doorway. "Hello, you dumb sons of bitches!" He yelled into the room.

Some of the Elites broke camo and started firing. The rest followed suit. Six took cover behind the entrance to the room.

"You want to kill me? Come and get it!" Six yelled as several Sangheilli jumped from their perches and followed him. He was surprised that the plan was working so far.

"On my mark, John." Six said.

"Three…"

The Elites were getting closer.

"Two…"

They were almost upon them, a second or two later and…

"One…"

They were a few feet from the door…

"Mark!" Six said as he and John both armed their landmines. They both threw the mines like Frisbees, landing them under the Elite's feet. One of them jolted to a halt, causing him to trip and fall on the now armed mine. He and three or four of his comrades were blown back and killed. John's landmine went underfoot an Elite that didn't notice it, killing it and a handful of Elites. There were three or four left, obviously startled by the sudden loss of their comrades. They didn't run, however. They stood vigilant and kept firing.

"Now, marines!" Six yelled. As he did, the handful of marines spilled out from the doorway and began firing on the Elites. Along with John and Six's precision fire, they were unstoppable, and the few Sangheilli left dropped like flies.

Six looked around the room. Then he looked above him. Everything seemed just fine.

"Well that went better than expect—" Six was cut off by a Hunter's plasma cannon hitting him in the back, throwing him on the ground. He got back up as quickly as he could, but his back was on fire. The pain was substantial, but he shrugged it off and started firing on the Hunter along with the rest of the squad.

The Hunter blocked every bullet that hit it with its shield, doing no damage at all.

"Watch my back! I'm moving up!" John said.

"Gotcha covered!" Six said.

John ran towards the Hunter, rolling out of the way of a plasma blast. He got nearby its front, and he made it turn itself around so its back was facing the squad.

Six took this as an opportunity to attack. He ran at the Hunter's back fast, took a leap, and grabbed the Hunter by the top of its head and pulled back. John fired at its throat while the marines fired on its back. Six had to lift his feet, because the marines almost hit him, too.

"Watch your fire!" Six yelled as he tried to move out of the way of the bullets.

After a few more seconds, the Hunter fell, shaking the ground around it.

"Jesus H. Christ…" Six said. "Does my back look okay?"

"It'll be fine. Your shields absorbed most of the impact." John replied.

"Really? Feels like my spine did." Six said under his breath. He cracked his back and started forward. "Move up, marines!" He yelled, beckoning forward. The marines followed. Six looked at John.

"I don't have any more neat plans, so we're going to have to be careful up here. Try not to get shot." Six said.

"That _is _a neat plan." John said as they travelled forwards, ever closer to the Control Center.

* * *

"Jesus, how many of these things are there?!" Six yelled as he shot Elite after Elite, with John and the now smaller group of marines close behind. There had been several rooms like the one that they had encountered earlier, and they had lost three of their marines in the process. There were only four left now, and they looked a little more agitated than before. John answered Six's question punctually.

"A lot!" John replied.

"No shit!" Six shot back.

"Does anyone see an exit?" Six shouted back at the marines.

"Over there! We haven't been through there yet!" One of the marines said, pointing at a large, airtight door.

"Let's get over there, then!" Six yelled. "Move!"

Six shot at the Elites as he ran to the door, with John and two of the marines close behind.

"Where are the other two marines?" John asked.

"Dead, sir." A marine replied. "It's just us now."

"Dammit!" Six yelled. A few more yards to the door, and…

The door whooshed open, and the soldiers ran through. The door closed behind them and locked, separating the Elites from them. Six turned around, and gazed upon the sight that was now before him. They were now on a bridge. But something seemed amiss. Then, a flake of white landed on Six's arm. He lifted the arm up to look at it. It was a snowflake.

It was snowing. But… They were underground.

"What…?" Six said as he stared at the suddenly introduced sky and the snow falling from it. The two remaining marines were looking around too, confused as to how this was possible. John was, too.

"Cortana, where are we, exactly? I thought we were underground." John said.

"I'm not sure… Hold on." Cortana said. A few seconds passed, and then she spoke up.

"Interesting... the weather patterns here seem natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring's environment systems are malfunctioning... or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather. "

"Whatever this is, this is beyond strange. It almost makes me think that we're still aboveground." Six said. "Almost. Stick close everyone."

Six's radio started crackling, and a Pelican flew over the bridge. Covenant forces that Six had yet to see started firing on the dropship as it crossed over the bridge.

"This is Fire Team Zulu requesting immediate assistance from any UNSC forces. Does anyone copy? Over." A soldier said, likely the pilot.

"I didn't think there were any human forces left on this part of the ring." Cortana said. She patched into the radio and responded. "Cortana to Fire Team Zulu, I read you. Fire Team Zulu, this is Cortana. Hold position. We're on our way." She said.

After a moment, there was a response. "Roger that. Make it quick." The pilot said as he turned the pelican and flew it under the bridge.

"Alright, we're going to have to high-tail it if we want to get to Zulu in time. Move it, everyone!" Six said as they traversed the bridge. The squad entered a structure and went down the stairs, then exited through the bottom floor. They were greeted by the sight of a flipped Warthog sitting next to a canyon, and a trio of marines defending themselves against a legion of Covenant, including Jackals, Grunts and Elites.

"Blast 'em!" Six yelled as they charged into battle. The squad was firing on the Covenant from the back, killing many of them without being noticed over the gunfire. They got away with a few more kills until someone realized where the bullets were coming from, then opened fire on the bigger threat. Quite a few of the Covenant turned to shoot, and quite a few were gunned down before they could pull their triggers. A stray plasma blast caught one of their marines in the face, sending him stumbling off of the cliff and into the canyon below.

"Shit." Six said under his breath.

A few minutes later, the other marine was shot with a needler four or five times, ending her life as well.

"Shit!" Six said again.

After another seven or eight minutes of constant gunfire, the Covenant were slain, and the very few that survived were fleeing. Six and John travelled over to the fallen warthog, where a combat medic was tending to a soldier who had taken plasma burns on his chest. The third marine had his hand on the man's shoulder, comforting him

"You're going to be okay, don't you worry." The marine said.

"I need some space, will you give me a minute?" The medic said.

"You got it Doc." The marine said as he stood and turned around. It was none other than their friend, Clancy Maegan.

"Look who it is." Six said as he walked up to the now standing marine. "How're you doing, Clancy?"

"Trust me, I've been better. He sure as hell has been better." Clancy said as he gestured towards the fallen marine. "Glad you could join the party, sirs."

"I can't exactly say the same, but hey, who else is going to do it?" Six responded. "What a coincidence that, of all people, they sent you in here."

"Actually, sir, I asked." Clancy responded. "I want to fight on the front lines. I'm thinking about becoming an ODST one day."

"That's a dangerous job, Clancy. Not to mention you have to have months of intense training first. And that's just to get a Spec-Ops position, not even to be an ODST."

"Whatever the training, It's worth it. I want to really help, not be cannon fodder for the Covenant." Clancy responded.

"It is your choice. And it could be a good idea. There would be one more smartass backing me up in a firefight." Six said, grinning under his helmet. "Alright, enough chit-chat. We need to get to that Control Center. Are you done over there?"

"Just about! He'll be up and moving in no time!"

"Alright then. Move it, everyone!"

Clancy saluted him. "Sir, yes sir." He said.

And with that, Six, John, Clancy and the others went towards the sounds of gunfire up ahead.

* * *

**I just realized that this is the longest chapter so far! High five me! **

**...Nice one!**

**Also, for those who haven't seen my addition to the end of chapter fourteen, I put a poll up on what I should write next as a side thing to this story. I'm thinking Sly Cooper, but i'm not too sure. Just go to my Profile by clicking on my name. It's right at the top.**

**Keep reading, dudes and dudettes!**

**~Husky**


	17. Like Glue

"Enemy forces eliminated." Clancy said, happily. They had just finished a firefight, and they had escaped with few to no injuries.

"God damn, I love these things." Six said as he exited a Scorpion tank that they had come across. "So much firepower!" Six walked towards the newest group of marines that they had just saved. "Are you sure we get everyone? 'Cause I'm willing to get back in that tank if you guys want."

"That's the last of 'em, area secure. They did their damnedest, that's for sure. This is all that's left of my platoon! The Covenant are down here in force, and they brought plenty of toys. I wouldn't have given us a snowball's chance until you two showed up." A high ranked marine said.

"I can tell from your voice that you're from Fire Team Zulu. Are you the Sergeant?" Six asked.

"Yes sir, I am." The Sergeant replied.

"Alright then. Keep your aim steady." Six said. He walked over to John, who had been riding shotgun (Or machine gun, depending on how you look at it) in the tank with him. He was leaning against the tank's tread.

"Having fun?" John asked.

"Yeah, I am, actually. You?"

"It never is for me." John said in his normal, deep voice. "Too serious, I guess."

"I understand what you mean. I try to force myself to have fun these days. Sometimes though, like then, I didn't have to. Tanks are nice that way." Six said.

John chuckled. "Okay, I have to admit, the tank was fun."

"Glad to hear that you think so. I'm going to get everyone moving in a minute, so make sure you're ready." Six said.

"Aye aye, Cap'n." John said with a friendly salute. Six saluted him back and turned to address the marines.

He looked at the bulk of them and thought about what he was going to say. _Screw it. I can make it up as I go along,_ He thought. He took a deep breath and started.

"I hope you'll all be ready in the next thirty seconds, because we can't stick around long."

He took a pause. Everyone looked up at him.

The pressure was on.

"If we don't get to Halo before the Covenant do, we could be in it pretty deep. Do not run. Do not hide. You have an entire team that has your backs, including me. As far as I'm concerned, you are the toughest sons of bitches in the entire marine corp. Do not let your emotions take control of you. And if you see any of those Covenant scum, shoot them right in between the eyes." Six said as he gestured to the top-middle part of his visor. "We are going to win this fight, and we're going to make the Covenant wish they had never come across the Human race!" He cleared his throat as quietly as he could, then continued. "Am I RIGHT, marines?!" He shouted with his fist in the air.

"SIR, YES SIR!" The marines shouted back, saluting him.

"Alright, move out!" Six said as he loaded his DMR and his shotguns. John walked up from his side.

"Good speech." He said.

"Thanks." Six responded.

John was about to walk away with the rest of the soldiers, but Six stopped him.

"Hey, could I talk to you for a minute? I just remembered I never answered your question." He said.

"What question?" John replied.

"When we crash landed on the Installation, I said that I didn't want to lose everyone again."

"Right. I remember asking about that."

"I used to be in a squad called Noble team. I was the last one alive, and I was found minutes before you were pulled from cryosleep. I should have told you about this before, but I was a little… mentally unstable… for a little while."

"Does that have anything to do with your fit of rage on the Autumn?"

"Maybe. I was completely isolated for two weeks, and after a few days, I started having these dreams, about what happened to my team members. On the ship… It was my friend, Kat. She got shot in the back of her head while her shields were down. I had to drop her, and we ran. But in my dream, I fought."

Six holstered the shotguns on his back.

John looked at him. "When were you going to tell me this? This is huge." He said.

"When it became relevant." He replied.

"It was relevant before." John shot back.

"It never got brought up."

"You should have brought it up on the Autumn then."

"I just wanted you to understand, I didn't need your opinion."

"Then why did you tell me in the first place?"

Six just sighed. "Forget it." He said.

"No." John replied. "I've only known you for a few days, Six, but I'm sure as hell not going to let you stew in your own guilt and misery."

Six looked up.

"You're a friend. Friends stick together." John told him. "Like glue."

John looked behind himself. The marines were a good fifty feet away now.

"We'll talk more later, alright?" John said, walking towards the marines.

As John walked away, Six thought about that. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. They'd only known each other for a few days, but John was calling him his friend.

Six grabbed a few grenades, and started walking towards the marines, too.

* * *

"Aw, crap. Let's get the hell outta here, man! Somebody call the dropship!" A marine near the back of the group said. Six turned his head and was about to tell him to grow a spine, but Clancy did it for him.

"Shut up! Show some backbone, will you?" He said.

"Alright, we need a few of you to travel with the Master Chief through this ridge. The others can go with Noble Six to advance from the side and attack from there. Any takers?" The Sergeant said. A few marines raised their hands and advanced towards John, including Clancy, and a couple others stayed where they were.

"Alright, you four are with me, then. Hop to it." Six said. "You too, Sergeant."

"Yes sir." The Sergeant said.

Six took a quick look at the Chief, and the Chief took a quick look at him. They nodded, and set off on their assigned courses.

The group cut around the main path and approached a low part in the ridge. Six adjusted the scope on his DMR to his liking, checked the chamber and loaded it. He was thinking about what John had said.

_I'm sure as hell not going to let you stew in your own guilt and misery._ _You're a friend. Friends stick together._

The thought of what John had said made something else occur to Six. He had something that he hadn't had for a long time.

He had someone that he could really, truly trust.

* * *

"Enemy mortar tanks sighted at my position... it's gonna be a busy day." Six said on his radio. He was prone, looking through the scope of his DMR. From where he was, he could see Wraiths in the icy canyon before them.

"The Covenant placed their tanks to defend the entrance to the tunnel." Cortana said. "The armor is thick, but my analysis indicates that the tanks have several weak spots, the engine on the back being the most prominent."

"Thanks, Cortana. Everyone ready?" Six said.

"Ready." His marines said.

"Ready." John said.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Clancy said.

Six took a pause. "Go!" he hissed. Six slid down the canyon and broke into a steep run halfway down, making large footprints in the snow. A Jackal located Six and started firing on him and his squad. The first of two Wraiths turned and fired an enormous plasma mortar into the sky.

"Watch it! Mortar!" A marine shouted over the gunfire. A loud explosion echoed from behind him, followed by a scream. John's marines ran down from their positions and opened fire on the second wraith. John jumped on the hood and ripped the Elite out of the turret. Six looked above him and saw another mortar flying down from above. He jumped out of the way and ran around the Wraith. It turned slowly and boosted at him, catching him in the midsection. He clung to the front with his legs under the Wraith, but he let go and was sucked under and shot out of the bottom. He rolled five feet and stopped, now behind the Wraith. He could see the Wraith's turret unloading on his soldiers, so he got up and ran at the back. He jumped on and tried to pry the engine cover off to no avail. He punched it with his robot arm, and the cover split easily. He grabbed a grenade and stuck it in the engine, causing a sickening sputtering noise.

"Get clear!" Six yelled as he jumped off and ran. The Wraith exploded a few seconds later, disintegrating the engine and killing the Covenant inside.

Six looked at John. He was punching a Hole in the driver's cover, and broke through. He grabbed the driving Elite, threw him out, and chucked a plasma grenade in. He jumped off, then it exploded, sending pieces flying. The marines from his and John's squad had cleared out the surrounding Covenant, and the area was now clear.

"Good work, everyone. Move out." Six said into his radio as they approached the cave.


	18. Ambushed

**Hola amigos! sorry for not updating in a while, I've been a little occupied writing my BRAND NEW Pokémon FanFic! The first chapter of it is up, just visit my profile to read it if you're interested. Sorry for the short chapter, by the way.**

**~Keep reading, Wolfgang!**

* * *

They were deep inside of the cave now, in pitch black darkness. The only thing surrounding Six was a handful of marines, maybe four or five, and the Master Chief. Along with those assets was his increasing anxiety of being down underground. Well, they already were, but the only thing that really mattered to Six at the moment was what his eyes were telling him, and they were telling him that he was descending into a large and dark hole in the side of a canyon.

A plasma bolt zipped past the group and hit the arctic wall behind them. Several Elite popped out from fissures and holes in the walls and other archways in the cavern and began firing on the marines.

"Watch out! More Covenant! Man, these guys are like cockroaches!" Clancy shouted as he raised his gun and fired. Six had raised his gun along with John not a second before, and within a few seconds it had turned into a full-fledged firefight.

Six had taken out one of his shotguns and was firing suppressing shots towards the savage warriors. These Elites were tougher than most, dodging shotgun slugs entirely and still accurately firing upon them.

_A shotgun isn't going to slow them down!_ Six thought to himself. He leaned behind a rock and set his back to the ice. Something was poking him in the back, so he reached behind him and pulled out what was bothering him. It was his second shotgun! He looked up at the marines. John was currently getting up close and personal with an Elite Captain, and it looked like everything was mostly under control. Mostly. Six popped up from cover and was about to fire, when…

"Shit! I'm out! I'm out of mags!" Clancy yelled. An Elite was running towards him, wrist blade drawn, maybe a few feet away. Six looked at him. He looked at his shotgun, then threw it to Clancy.

Clancy caught it and ducked out of the way of the thrusting blade, stumbling a bit. He stood back up and fired the shotgun right into the Sangheilli's toothy maw. He slid back a foot or two from the initial shotgun blast, but didn't fall over.

"Awesome! Much obliged, sir!" Clancy said with a salute. Six saluted him back and then turned to face the Covenant. They were thinning in number now, fewer coming at them. Six couldn't tell from the constant flow of bullets and plasma, but he assumed that there were less than seven of them left. John was still fighting the Captain, engaged in very close combat. A pair of Elites was running at the two combatants, one with an energy sword drawn.

"Anyone want to trade with me?!" John asked.

Six ran towards John. "Hell no, but who else is supposed to save your ass?" he said with a chuckle. John rolled backwards and Six jumped into position, his lightning reflexes blocking every punch the Sangheilli Captain was throwing. An energy sword came from nowhere, nearly piercing Six's skull before he ducked. He came back up with a cheap shot to the throat for the Captain. Six grabbed the arm of the energy sword Elite and stabbed it into the Captain's face, piercing his eyes. Six span around to the sword Elite's back, grabbed the top and bottom of its head, and snapped its neck. The second Elite approached from Six's other side, but didn't stand a chance against his superior strength, taking a large amount of controlled punches in the face before falling into a crumpled heap. The last two Elites were gunned down in the moments after Six defeated his last opponent.

"Area clear. Move up!" Six said. After a minute or so, they reached an upwards slope in the cavern, which the marines and Spartans were easily able to get up.

"Alright, headcount. One, two, three… Shit." Six said. They had lost two marines in the battle, and Six wasn't even aware. "Alright. Well I guess…" He trailed off. _Wait a minute…_

He looked at them. At their faces. Something was a little off.

Where was Clancy?

"Clancy? Yo, Clancy! You down there?" Six shouted down the slope.

No answer.

"I'm going back down there." Six said.

"Be quick, Six. We don't want the Covenant to get to the Control room before us." John said.

"Will do." Six replied, sliding back down the hill of ice.

He looked around in the dark. "Clancy!" he yelled. A coughing sound came from the back of the cave.

"Back here!" Clancy responded. Six ran to the back of the cave where Clancy was, kneeling down at his side.

"Thank god. C'mon, soldier. We still have business to take care of. Come on, up!" He said, attempting to get Clancy standing. He was midway through getting up, but he clutched his side and nearly fell over. Six looked at the wound. He was bleeding profusely from the same wound that he had acquired in the crash landing on Halo, a crescent moon cut that was an inch or two deep, reopened by an Elite's wrist blade.

"I don't think I'm going to make it far, sir." He said.

"Shrug it off. If you can't, I'll have to offer to carry you again." Six said. "I'm not going to let you die. Not on my watch."

"Why? I'll just inconvenience you anyways. I can't exactly… walk."

Six paused for a second, looking for the right words.

"Because good friends stick together." He said. "Like glue."

Clancy smiled. "You're right about that much, that's for damn sure." He said, attempting to stand once more. He supported himself on a nearby stone and, with the help of Six, got to his feet.

"Lean on me if you have to." Six told him. He kept sure footing whilst walking towards the slope, and was very careful on the way up. He put Clancy up first, and then climbed up himself. John saw the pair and jogged towards them.

"Glad you're alright, Clancy. Can you walk alright?" John asked.

"Yeah… I Think so." Clancy responded.

"Good, because we need to move." John said.

Six hurried to the head of the group, clapping to rouse attention. "Alright people." He said.

"Move out!"


	19. Joyride

**Wow, that was a long hiatus, huh?**

**I'm finally back! It took me a while, but I finally have an opportunity to write again! I am so sorry for the delay Wolfgang, here is the latest chapter of what is apparently:**

** "...one of the best Halo stories on the site."**

**-Gamer God3331**

**I feel so cool hearing that! Be sure to check out my Pokémon Platinum Fanfic, too! I'm going to start writing a fourth chapter as soon as this is up!**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**

* * *

The squad had entered another chasm full of Covenant minutes ago, and had just finished clearing out the last of them, including one of the largest Hunters that Six had ever seen.

"I thought the Covenant had eliminated all the Marine forces in this area." Cortana said.

"Apparently not." Staff Sergeant Johnson said, staring at the downed Hunter. Six and John had found him alone with the beast not minutes ago, and helped him out. Clancy walked up and kicked it with his boot. "Gross." He said. Suddenly, he looked up.

"Wait wait wait... Shhh. Anyone else hear that?" Clancy said. Everyone stayed silent. There was a deep humming, and it was getting progressively louder every second. Suddenly, a Covenant Spirit Dropship rose from behind the cliffs and started approaching full speed towards them.

"Covenant dropship inbound, take cover!" Six said.

Just then, another Spirit rose from the other side, dropping in waves of Covenant forces. "Watch your six! More of them!" John said. The first Spirit began unloading troops on to the terrain now, Jackals and Grunts jumping from the ship and into the snow below. Six raised his Magnum and started firing on them from a distance, killing quite a few. A rogue carbine shot hit one of the marines, sending her to the ground. Six ran over to her, but it was too late, for the shot had entered her head.

"Marine down!" Six yelled. A beam rifle shot echoed through the air, hitting John in the shoulder. "You alright over there?" Six yelled to John.

"I'm fine!" He said, spraying bullets in the Covenant's direction. Clancy and the other marine were holding up well along with Sergeant Johnson. Six kept unloading on the Forces behind them, killing dozens. He took down Grunts and Jackals left and right, as were the others. After several minutes and three or so drop ships, the area was secure. Clancy walked over to the fallen marine and started fiddling with something on her neck.

"What're you doing?" Six asked.

Clancy looked behind him, pulled off whatever he was trying to get, and showed Six. "Dog tags. She was a friend."

"Oh." Six replied with a grim tone to his voice.

"You know... So she isn't forgotten." Clancy said.

Six nodded and waved what was left of the squad towards him.

* * *

Six was panting. Surprising, considering his inhuman endurance. Six had led the squad out of the chasm and nearby a cliffside mounted with stationary guns. They fired on the squad, killing yet another marine and injuring him in the process. He and John worked together and took out the stationary guns with a pair of nearby missile pods, and cleared the area for evacuation.

"Area secure, Zulu. Evac is en route to your position. I want you to take our marines with you, too." Six said into the radio.

"Understood, sir." Zulu team's leader responded as a Pelican dropship flew over the cliffs and landed beside the squad. "You heard the man. Climb aboard, marines!"

"Good idea... I should probably get this checked out..." Clancy said over the radio with a light chuckle, probably checking the bloody bandages on his side. The marines hopped onto the Pelican as it rose up and flew away. The two Spartans gave a little salute to the ship as it flew away, and then Six spoke.

"Come on, John. We'd better get moving before they..." Six heard boosters behind him. "Catch us... with our pants down..." He turned to look behind them. John turned as well, and the two were greeted by the sight of three Banshees speeding towards them.

"Cortana! Are you reading this?" Six asked.

"Negative! Somehow they slipped under my radar! Find some cover, quickly!" She replied. If a handful of Covenant ships could slip through Cortana's watch, who knows what else the Covenant have learned to conceal. John ran towards one of the missile pods from earlier, only to be swept off of his feet after grabbing it. A Covenant Ghost hit him full force at eighty miles per hour, throwing the missile pod from his hands and off of the cliff. Six turned and grabbed his missile pod from the ground, aimed and fired at the Banshees repeatedly. The lock on feature helped track them, but most of the shots were missing. By the time that he had run out of ammo, he had only taken down one of the Banshees.

"John, I could use a little bit of help here!" Six yelled into the radio.

"Yeah, I'm working on it!" He replied.

"Work faster!"

"Riding on the hood of a Ghost is a lot harder than you think!"

"No it isn't, I've done it before!"

"What?!"

"Oh, never mind!"

Six took out a plasma grenade and threw it up into the air, catching it on one of the Banshees overhead. The hull exploded, sending shrapnel and flames in several directions. It crashed about thirty yards ahead, where Six could see more Ghosts and Banshees approaching.

"John, where are you at?" Six said loudly. "John!"

A Ghost came up to Six at lightning speed, but the driver was certainly no Covenant.

"Get on." John said.

"Aren't Ghosts one seated?!" Six asked.

"We can work around it!" John yelled as Six got in the back, placing his feet on the back of the seat and sitting on the round back of the Covenant vehicle.

"Oh, great!" Six yelled as John gunned the engine and sped up to around eighty miles per hour. They sped along the ridge, leaving the unready Covenant in the dust. Six pulled his DMR off of his back and aimed at the now pursuing Ghosts. They were flying through rocks and fallen trees as Banshees shot plasma bolts inches behind them. Six fired a shot at one of the Grunts driving a Ghost, knocking it off and killing it as its Ghost flew towards them, flipped over and exploded on another.

"Whoo!" Six yelled as it blew up. "I'm liking this arrangement!"

"Duck." John said.

"What?"

"Duck!"

"Oh shit!" Six said as he barely ducked a tree trunk that had been, at the time, flying towards his face. They were now approaching a set of bridges. With all of the open space, there was no way that they could lose the Covenant there.

"Two hundred feet from the Control Center!" Cortana said.

"Can you go any faster?!" Six yelled.

"Probably not without burning the engine!" John said.

"Then burn it! We're almost there!" Six yelled back.

"I don't recommend doing that, Chief. If this engine gets too overworked, it may combust and possibly explode." Cortana said.

"If we _don't, _WE may combust and possibly explode!" Six yelled as he fired at more of the Ghosts, knocking Grunts and Elites off every few shots. They were on the first bridge now, and almost to the second. Just a few more seconds, and...

"One hundred feet!" Cortana said.

A plasma grenade flew through the air and landed on the back of their Ghost, arming itself.

"Fuck! GRENADE!" Six yelled to John. They were nowhere close to the Control Room's entrance, maybe a hundred feet away, and they were about to be blown up before they got there. "PUNCH IT!"

John overclocked the engine, sending the ghost barreling forward at one hundred and twenty miles per hour. As they left the Covenant in the dust, Six plunged his robotic arm into the metal alloy which covered the back area of the ghost and ripped upwards, tearing the thick metal shell of the Ghost's back panel completely off. Ten feet from the entrance, Six attempted to throw the grenade stuck alloy, but it exploded before it got a foot from them. The Ghost flipped.

"Hang on to something!" John said loudly.

"Hang on to what!?" Six yelled louder.

As Six clenched his superhuman grip on to the Ghost's seat strap, they did several full rolls on the ground and entered the front door of what could have only been Halo's Control Center as it locked behind them.

* * *

"Jesus, everything hurts." Six groaned. He got up, and looked ahead of him. "Whoa."

It was a network of machinery and gadgets lining the walls, some even AS walls. In the middle was a large holo-table and a terminal, ready and waiting for them.

"Analyzing. This must be the Control Room. Subtle." Cortana said.

"This is it. Halo's control center." Six said. "We made it here before the Covenant did, too. I think. Right?"

"Scanning... No Covenant forces in the vicinity. So yes, Six. We made it here before them." Cortana said happily.

"Good." Six replied simply. "Plug her into that terminal. See if we can gain some insight on this Halo I've been hearing so much about."

John unplugged Cortana's chip from his helmet and inserted her chip into the terminal. A second later, she appeared above the table, but she looked... Different. Streams of what Six could only assume was data flew out of her AI in all directions, and her eyes turned a deep crimson. Her body was green, then purple, and back to green.

"You alright, Cortana?" John said.

"I've never been better!" Cortana said with a happy smile. The smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of absolute wonder. She shifted her hand through the data streams as if they were water. "You can't imagine the wealth of information... So much... So fast... It's glorious."

"What sort of weapon is it?" John asked.

"What do you mean?" Cortana said, John's question breaking her out of her trance.

"What he means is, what does it do? How can we use it to fight the Covenant?" Six asked.

Cortana simply snorted. "The ring isn't a cudgel, you barbarians. it's something else... something much more important. The Covenant were right... this ring... it's... Forerunner technology. Give me a second to access... yes, the Forerunners built this place, what they called a "fortress world", in order to... no, that can't be. Oh, those Covenant fools, they must have known, there must have been signs!" She said very quickly. She suddenly donned a frightened look.

"Slow down. You're losing me." John said.

"The Covenant found something, buried in this ring, something horrible, and now... they're afraid." She said, terrified.

"Something buried?" Six said. "Where?"

Her face became ever more darkened. "The Captain! We have to stop the Captain!" Cortana yelled in sheer terror.

"Keyes? What do we-" John said, but was cut off by Cortana.

"The weapons cache he's looking for. It's not really— We can't let him get inside!" She said.

"I don't understa-" John said, but was once again cut off.

"There's no time. Get out of here, find Keyes, stop him! Before it's too late!" She shrieked.

"C'mon, Six, let's move it!" John yelled as they both turned and ran, hoping to find Keyes before whatever Cortana found was unleashed.

And if Cortana was afraid, well, it certainly couldn't be a good thing.

* * *

**Wow, I wonder what'll happen next?**

**...Is what I would say if everyone didn't already know what happens next. But hey, this is MY fanfic, you never know.**

**Keep reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	20. Something New

""The last transmission from the Captain's dropship was from this area. That was over twelve hours ago. When you locate Captain Keyes, radio in, and I'll come pick you two up." The Pilot said into her radio.

"Understood, Rawley. Drop us down right here, in the flatland." Six said, switching off his radio. "Or at least I think its flatland. I can't see through all of this damn fog."

"Me niether." John said simply. "I don't like it."

The Pelican lowered down to the thankfully flat swamp below and landed gracefully. Six was polishing a brand new DMR and was adjusting it to his liking, and John was just ready to do what he did best. Six got the scope tuned, pushed a fresh clip into the bottom, loaded it, and turned the safety off.

"Ready, Six?" John asked.

"As I'll ever be." Six replied.

The two dismounted the Pelican and walked cautiously through the swamp, not knowing that the enemy that lie ahead of them was one that even the Covenant's Prophets feared.

* * *

"See anything?" John asked Six as they walked through the thick fog. They could barely see three feet in front of each other, and their flashlights wren't helping as well as Six had thought they would.

"Hell no. You?" Six replied.

John just sighed. Six guessed that that meant no. "Well, we should keep moving. We're bound to vfind something if-"

"Dropship Victor 933-" Six's radio said.

Six reached up to his helmet. "Hello? Do you read?" He asked.

"-need assistance. We are under att-" The communication faded.

"Are you..." Six asked John, but John nodded before he could finish. John was hearing this, too.

"-new hostile-isn't Covenant-"

This startled Six. "Did he just say what I think he-"

"Shh." John whispered.

"Captain Keyes has been _captured_ by hostiles-large structure in the sw-" More static. "-putting this message to repeat at regul-intervals. Dropship Victor 933, clear." And then the transmission ended.

"Well, shit." Six said. "We need to move. Fast."

Suddenly, there was gunfire off in the distance.

"Those are Human weapons." John said.

Six ran off towards the noise, and John followed, both anxious of what they might find when they got there.

* * *

They got there, alright. But the place that they thought that they had heard the gunfire coming from was stone dead.

"I don't like this at all. Not one little bit." Six said. A padded noise echoed behind him. It sounded like footsteps, running. He looked back, but there was no one there.

"If this isn't Covenant..." John said with a pause. "Then I'm afraid of whatever it really is."

"Huh." Six replied.

John looked up. "What?"

"Well, I thought you weren't afraid of anything."

"Why would you assume that?"

"I'm not sure. Because you're so... Closed up. You know? You don't really let too much out."

"Yeah, well, that may be true, but trust me. Everyone is afraid of something"

"Oh yeah?" Six asked. "What're you afraid of, then?"

"Well two things, really. The first, I'm afraid of not knowing. Like I said, I fear whatever we're really hunting. If i'm not prepared to go into battle with someone..some_thing_ that i'm not familiar with..." John exhaled. "I get real uncomfortable."

"That I can understand." Six replied. "What's the second one, then? And it had better be more 'ridiculous' than my fear of the underground, or I won't have any dirt on you for as long as I live."

John hesitated. "I..."

Branches cracked behind him. Both Six and John dropped the conversation and aimed behind John.

Heavy, hoarse breathing came from behind him. A hand, grey and pale, reached out through the fog and grabbed John with a death grip on his leg. John looked down quickly, startled, and Six raised his DMR.

The weak and shaky arm pulled itself forward, revealing the creature to be a badly wounded Sangheilli. It grabbed John with its other hand, which was soaked in purple blood. It looked up directly at the two Spartans. Its eyes read as a mixture of emotions. Rage. Sadness. Despair. But above all of these, the Sangheilli showed Confusion.

"Two... Demons?" It asked heavily in English.

As much as Six hated the Covenant, especially Sangheilli, he couldn't help but feel bad for it. He looked at its armor. It was standard issue. This was a new recruit.

"You'll be alright." Six told it, kneeling down and looking at its wound. It was an american football shaped hole directly in the middle of it's back that went all the way out of the other side. How the hell was this Sangheilli still alive?

"Just scratch. Not bad, just... Just scratch." The Sangheilli said. It lowered its head knowingly. "Will not... Will not... turn!" It said with a sudden shout. Something crawled under its armor and skin. It screamed loudly as the gap in its midsection closed up slowly.

"What the fuck...?!" Six said, backing up about a foot. Replacing the Sangheilli's grey skin was a treebark looking pale green tissue. Diseased muscle stretched across the gap and tied itself together, knotting and binding with sickening wrapping noises. The Sangheilli shouted loudly as something sprouted from it's neck.

"Krort ghuj ni! Raka shu! Raka shu!" The Sangheilli screamed at the top of its lungs in Wortish, the Sangheilli native language. "Skraq ei! Skraq ei!" It screamed at Six. Six knew Wortish pretty well, as his numerous stealth experiences helped him learn the Elite language. Though he never really payed attention to it often, he understood everything that the Sangheilli had just said. He raised his gun and fired four deadly accurate rounds into various parts of the creature's brain, killing it.

John kicked the now dead hand off of his foot, obviously very disturbed.

"What was it saying?" John asked.

There was a pause.

A long one.

"After it stopped yelling, It said..." Six gulped. "It said, "It's not my fault!". Then it said "Get it off, get it off!""

John was quiet. "What about after that?"

Another pause.

"Shoot me. Twice."

"Oh." John said. "Well..." He started, but stopped. Six looked at him. A stern figure and a solid soldier were two things that John excelled at being. But there was something about his tone of voice after that. Not fear.

That tone was disbelief.

"Alright. Okay. Let's keep moving, and... and maybe we can find Keyes soon and get the fuck out of this swamp." Six said.

"Maybe?" John replied.

"You have a better plan, then?" Six asked sternly. "Come on then, let's hear it."

John just sighed. "Never mind. Forget it."

"I swear, sometimes you're just so..." Six stopped. "So..." He looked with one hundred percent pure and utter terror as the dead Sangheilli erupted back from inside of the fog and stood behind John. Its face was warped, its helmet broken, and the front of its head was replaced by a gaping maw with razor teeth and spider-leg looking appendages clicking in front of its mouth.

"Wh..." John said quietly as he looked behind him.

Standing not six inches from his face was the first of the monsters that they would soon learn to fear.

"Oh my-" John said.

The creature went for John's throat.

* * *

**The introduction of the Flood was a big thing for me. How would I introduce them? Should I stick to the plot or go off of the beaten path? I decided on this approach because of the fact that I want to experiment with the characters' deepest fears. Horror is an unexpected treat if you can blend it in well enough.**

**If you thought that the Flood and the Gravemind were terrifying now, get ready for a new level of spooky. **

**Keep reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Yours Truly, Husky.**


	21. Nightmare Creatures

"Hrrgh!" John grunted as he was tackled by the monstrous creature. The sheer force and speed was enough to push him back four feet, directly into the nearest tree. His boots scraped against the mud and he pushed against the creature's strength. As Six kicked himself into gear, John was struggling. Hard. The strength of this monster rivaled his own, and he was having trouble fighting it.

"Off!" Six yelled with a punch as forceful as both of them combined, knocking the monster into the tree next to them. It hit the bark with a loud crunch as a jutting branch broke through the eroded armor and rotted skin of the undead Sangheili. It pierced the front layer of decomposed tissue and stabbed out of the front, effectively pinning the creature to the tree. It roared a terrible and phlegm-filled roar as Six looked at it in further detail. It was lumpy and misshapen, its flesh spilling out of its armor at awkward angles. Its teeth were sharp and deadly, and there were sprouts of red nerves sticking out on small stalks in its skin. This was no longer the same creature that had been begging to be shot not three minutes ago.

This was something different. Something new.

Six raised his magnum and fired at the undead creature's vitals until it stopped moving. He kept firing at it, every bullet hitting an important organ or artery until the clip ran dry. The hammer clicked against the chamber twice, but fired nothing, signaling an empty clip. He lowered the magnum and just started at the re-dead monstrosity.

"What is that thing?" John asked.

"Whatever it was, it isn't it now." Six said. "I think."

"Come on. We need to find Keyes. Now." John said urgently.

Six looked at the corpse. It was terrifying.

"Right. Alright, let's get moving." He said. They proceeded towards the radio transmission's location steadily, careful not to make too much noise in case there were more dangers awaiting them ahead.

* * *

As the two approached a new structure, larger than the last, the fog around them thinned eerily, making it a bit easier to see.

"Finally." Six said. "I can see again."

"So this is where the transmission was coming from, huh?" John said.

"I guess so. Wanna take point?"

"Okay. Watch my six, Six." John said. They walked up a wide, short ramp leading to the structure's entrance. Six walked up to the front door and opened it, checking inside. It was empty, quiet and cold. At the far side of the room stood an elevator platform, ready and waiting for them.

"Nothing in here except for the elevator over there." Six said.

"I guess we're going down, then." John said.

"Seems that way. Come on." Six replied, motioning John to follow. The two got on to the elevator and went deep down. Six wasn't getting the usual jitters that he got when he went underground, though. John noticed that, and spoke on it.

"I expected you to be shaking in your boots. You get over it already?" He asked.

Six looked at John. "Trust me. This time, it isn't the underground i'm worried about." He said.

The elevator came to a halt forty feet below ground, far outside of Six's comfort zone. He was too occupied with keeping an eye out to care, however, not wanting to encounter another one of the undead monsters that they had seen earlier.

The elevator doors opened up to a grisly sight. Bodies, Human and Covenant alike, were strewn about like ragdolls all over the room.

"Oh my God." Six said. Not only were whole bodies on the floor, but there were torsos, arms, legs and heads severed and alone in several areas of the room. Parts were missing from some of the corpses. Then, Six made the mistake of looking up.

There were pieces of people pinned and stuck to the ceiling, blood oozing from above.

"I'm glad I have a strong stomach." Six said. John just stared.

"No no no. No no no no no..." Something said in the back of the room. Six looked towards the noise, but saw nothing. John heard it too, and motioned for Six to follow. Guns raised, they slowly walked towards it.

A marine was huddled up in a ball under a pair of corpses. Six saw his foot moving under them and tried lifting one of the corpses. The marine burst out of the pile with a shotgun raised.

"Stay back! Stay back! You're not going to turn me into one of them! One of those things!" He said, aiming the shotgun at them. Six sand John both lowered their weapons.

"Hey, hey. Calm down." John said as he took a step forward. "We just-"

"I'll blow your goddamn brains out of your head if you take one more step! Get away!" The marine shouted.

"Relax! We aren't here to hurt you. We just want to talk." Six said. The marine lowered his weapon.

"Talk?"

"Yes. Where is the rest of your squad?" Six asked the marine.

"My squad... Sarge! Mendoza! Bisenti! Oh god, those things took them. No no no... and they almost took me, too." He said, his head in his hands. "But I hid. I played dead, and they, they couldn't find me." He continued, smiling. His smile suddenly became a look of fear again. "Find your own hiding spot! If you don't hide somewhere else, then they'll find me! They... they..."

"Hold on, slow down. Who will find you? Who is 'they'?" Six asked.

"The monsters! The green monsters. They come back from the dead and they never stop, they never ever stop. Always hunting, always feeding." He said. He suddenly started sobbing. "The... the monsters!" He cried.

"Relax. Just relax. You're going to be alright. Just calm down, and-"

"NO! I'M NOT GOING TO LET THEM GET ME!" He screamed. He put his shotgun up to his chin.

"No, NO!" Six yelled. The marine pulled the trigger and blew his brains all over the wall. His helmet flew off of his head and he crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap.

"Son of a bitch!" Six said.

"He was too far gone. There was nothing we could have done." John said.

Six sighed, realizing that John was right. "Come on. Let's go find whoever 'Them' is. Maybe we can find Keyes along the way." John said.

"I really hope that he's still alive." Six said.

"Me too, Six. Me too." John replied as they walked across the room and in to the next one.

* * *

**The tension is rising!**

**I will now update this fanfic with 1000-2000 word chapters every 3-5 days. I know that I hadn't updated as much as I wanted to earlier in the month, but I have several totally 100% legitimate excuses as to why this was.**

**\- I am lazy.**

**\- I have no inspiration.**

**-I play Xbox all day**

**Anyways, I hope that everyone notices that my life is super important (sarcasm) and that life merits importance (fact).**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	22. The Recording

**Alright**,** everyone. I just realized that there are tons of Noble Six surviving stories (I noticed one or two a while back, but damn!). A couple are a bit similar to mine, though none are quite the same. Some are rigidly linear and follow traditional Halo lore, while others deviate off of the beaten path. I'm determined to make this story stand out among the pack, however. Get ready for the longest chapter yet, because I feel like I still owe you guys!**

**~Husky**

* * *

"This place is enormous. I'm not getting anything on my radar, either." Six said. The in-HUD radar was glitching out and buzzing. He tapped the side of this helmet, but it didn't change anything.

Six and John had been walking room to room for the past half hour, looking for survivors. A large battle obviously happened, as there were Human and Covenant corpses everywhere, but there was no sign of what killed them. Some died fighting each other, while others were just... Dead. No wounds. They had checked every room on the first floor at this point, but this place was huge. Who knew how many floors it had? They had seen a ramp leading to a second floor earlier, but unless the two had the blueprints to everything in the facility, there was no way of knowing what lay above them. Six had been hearing noises, too. Guttural and throaty growls and moans, among other things. But what he heard the most often was nothing. Silence. It bothered him greatly.

"Want to check on the second floor?" John asked.

"Not really, but who else is going to do it?" Six replied.

"Come on, then. Eyes open."

They walked up the ramp, guns at the ready. Their footsteps clanked against the cold metal floor as they went up. As they reached the top, Six noticed an immediate difference. At the end of the hallway they were in stood a door. It was different than the rest, a large double door secured with rotary locks. Not only that, but there were ominous looking symbols on the door in red paint.

"I think that could be worth checking out." Six asked John.

"I bet it would. Lets." John replied. As they walked towards the door, guns still raised, Six realized that it wasn't red paint. It was blood.

"Gross." Six said.

Just then, the lights went out.

"Oh!" Six gasped. "Shit. Flashlights on." He said, turning on his. John clicked his on, and aimed it at the door. He examined the symbols more closely.

"I think that these are Forerunner symbols." He said.

"What do you think they say?" Six asked.

"Probably 'KEEP OUT' or something along those lines." John replied as he approached the terminal. He started pushing buttons on an already attached spoofer.

"What're you doing?" Six asked.

"I'm going in."

"I thought you said that it had KEEP OUT painted on it."

"That doesn't mean that we aren't going to go in. And I can't actually read Forerunner."

A roar came from behind them, not thirty feet back. Six whipped around, only to realize that his flashlight was very dim at that range. He caught a glimpse of a grimy tentacle, but it retreated down the hall and around the corner.

"Shit. Open the door." Six said.

"Give me a minute. Its password protected. Someone or something was messing with the spoofer." John said. "If you see anything, shoot it."

"Good plan." Six replied. Another roar. It was inhuman. And it sounded like... like...

Six's eyes widened under his helmet as he realized what was roaring. It sounded exactly like the undead Sangheili creature that they had encountered earlier. "Open the damn door. Now." He said.

"I've almost got it." He said. He had opened the control box and was cutting wires with his knife.

A panel fell from the ceiling. It smashed to the floor with a heavy metal clang. Six whipped upwards, to the ceiling. Nothing came out, but Six could hear something approaching.

Something big.

"Got it!" John said.

"Come on, before whatever's coming gets here." Six said. They went through the doors and closed them manually, pushing them back into place. Before they fully closed, a trio of tentacles protruding from the ceiling hole caught Six's eye. Before he could get a good look at them, however, the doors shut. The rotary locks rotated back to their original positions, and the two Spartans turned around. This room was not nearly as gory as some of the others were, as it contained only a few blood spots on the wall, and a helmet. Six walked forward, and something dripped onto his visor. Another drip. He looked up to the ceiling.

The body of a marine was stuck on the ceiling by a tremendously large piece of shrapnel. Blood oozed from the point of entry, his stomach, and his throat was slit and dripping as well. His head had a large split in it, the same as the helmet on the floor not far from them. His intestines were hanging a foot from his stomach, and his arms were mangled and bruised. Where his eyes were, there were bleeding pits, and his broken jaw was forever frozen in the middle of a scream.

"Holy shit." Six said with a start.

"Ditto." John replied in a nervous tone.

Six broke eye contact with the body and looked at the helmet. There was a helmet-mounted camera on it, and there was a small chip on the ground a few feet away. He picked up the helmet and looked at it, noticing that there was a slot for the chip that was on the ground nearby.

"Let's see if he recorded anything important." Six said, walking over to the chip with the helmet in hand. He picked the chip up off of the floor and put it into the slot on the back of his helmet. He pressed a few buttons on his wristplate and broadcasted the video to both of their visors. The video appeared in the corner of Six's HUD, and it began to play. The screen was black. Type appeared on the screen.

* * *

**_Open Record View (2:52:56 L)_**

**_Pvt. Jenkins, Wallace A.  
_**

**_Play_**

A night vision view from a stationary helmet appeared on the screen. Flip music was playing in the background, and Staff Sergeant Johnson was cleaning his rifle. A few other marines were next to him. They were obviously in a dropship, as Six could hear the Pelican's engines over the music.

"Why do we always have to listen to this old stuff, Sarge?" A marine asked. Johnson looked up and took his cigar out of his mouth.

"Watch your mouth, son. This "stuff" is your history. It should remind you grunts what we're fightin' to protect." He replied.

"Hey... if the Covenant wanna wipe out this particular part of my history, that's fine by me." The marine said. Someone picked up the helmet and put it on.

"Yeah... better it than us." Another marine, seated next to the first one, said.

Johnson chuckled. "You ask 'em _real_ nice next time you see 'em, Bisenti. I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige." He said.

The Pilot turned on the radio and started speaking. "LZ looks clear! I'm bringing us down!"

The Pelican landed and the door opened up, revealing the swamp.

"Go, go, go!" Johnson said. The marine wearing the helmet got up, along with the others, and exited the Pelican. The recording stopped, then new letters appeared on the screen.

**_FFW_**

**_PLAY_**

The recording cut to a view of the structure that the two Spartans were now in, and it was much less foggy than before.

"Stay close, Jenkins!" Johnson said, talking to the cameraman. The four man squad rushed up the structure and to its entrance, guns at the ready. "Mendoza! Move it up!" Johnson said to the first marine who spoke, who's name was apparently Mendoza. He moved in closer with Jenkins and Bisenti. Johnson looked back at Jenkins and spoke. "Wait here for the Captain and his squad, and get your ass inside." He said.

"Yes sir!" Jenkins said.

"Okay, let's move." Johnson said, motioning to the rest of the team. They followed, and Jenkins stayed outside.

**_FFW_**

**_PLAY_**

Jenkins walked into the structure with Captain Keyes. He looked okay, but that was then. They still had no idea where he truly was. They approached a room together, voices emanating from inside.

"-which is weird, right? I mean, look at it. " A marine, likely one of the Captain's squad, said. Jenkins looked to the ground and the camera showed a mutilated Sangheilli corpse with its chest ripped wide open, not unlike the dying Sangheilli that John and Six encountered earlier. "Something..._scrambled_ the insides. Kind of looks like... I don't know, plasma scarring?" The marine guessed.

"Was it an accident? Maybe friendly fire or something like that?" Another marine said.

"I dunno... Maybe." The first marine replied. Keyes stepped forward and confronted Johnson.

"What do we have here, Sergeant?" He asked.

"It looks like a Covenant patrol. Badass Elite units. All KIA." Johnson responded.

Keyes looked down at the mutilated corpse, and up at the marine who was talking earlier. "Real pretty." He said to the marine. "Friend of yours?"

"Nah, we just met." The marine said in a slightly apprehensive tone.

**_FFW_**

**_PLAY_**

The group of marines approached a rotary locked door. It was the same door that they had just come in through.

"Right. Well, let's get this door open." Captain Keyes said.

A marine looked up at Keyes. He had been examining the door, trying to find a way through. "I'll try sir. But it looks like these Covenant worked pretty hard to lock it down."

"Just get it done." Keyes said impatiently.

The marine pulled a hacking tool out of his pocket and attached it to the panel. He entered a few commands using the buttons on it, and the door opened within ten seconds. As the doors parted, it showed a view of the room that John and Six were standing in right now. Six looked behind him instinctively, knowing that the recording wouldn't end well.

The squad entered the room, guns out. As they entered the room, a rumbling noise shook the ceiling above them. The marine from the beginning of the recording, Mendoza, looked up.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." He said.

Johnson smirked. "Boy, you always got a bad feeling about somethin'-" He said, but was cut off by radio static.

"Captain! Sarge! Can you hear me!?" A marine said through the radio. There was a lot off radio interference.

Keyes turned on his radio earpiece. "What's going on, soldier?"

The marine was breathing heavily. "We got contacts!" He yelled, panicked. "Lots of them! But... they're not Covenant! They're just tearing through us!" He said. Suddenly, he stopped.

"Soldier! Are you there?" Keyes asked urgently.

"Oh my god... no. No! No! Hrgghh..." The radio transmission was cut short.

"Corporal! Are you there?" Johnson asked. When there was no response, he turned and looked at Mendoza. "Mendoza, get back up to Second Squad's position and find out what the hell is going on." He said to the marine.

"But sir-" Mendoza said.

"But nothin'! I don't need your lip, soldier, that was an order!" Johnson said.

Mendoza gulped. "Yes sir!" He said halfheartedly. As he was about to exit the room, a heavy hissing noise came from behind them.

"Sarge! Listen!" A marine said.

They looked around the room, guns raised. The hissing sound grew louder.

"What the hell is that? Mendoza, find out where that's coming from." Johnson said.

Mendoza looked around. Six looked to the right, art the door opposite of the one that they had entered. It was split open.

"I... I don't know. Everywhere... there!" He yelled, pointing at the door that was presently split open. "¡Mira!" He shouted, still pointing. The door blasted open as he yelled, and small squid-like creatures came pouring out off the opening. There were hundreds within a few seconds, and soon they were swarming the squad furiously. Everyone started shooting, killing some, but not nearly enough. One jumped on a marine, and knocked him to the ground.

"Get it off! Get it off!" He yelled. Another marine raced to his side, trying to pull the creature off of his chest he pulled it off, but the marine that it was attached to went limp. The marine that had tried to help was now fighting for his own life. The creature clenched itself to the marine's face as he screamed, suddenly standing up straight and going stiff.

"Shoot them!" Johnson yelled.

"There's to many of them, Sarge!" Bisenti replied across the room, shooting for his life.

"Don't even think about that! Keep firing!" Johnson yelled, taking out small groups with every shotgun blast.

A creature jumped on Jenkins' helmet, cracking the top and his skull wide open. As he screamed , a tentacle wrapped around his head, obstructing the camera's vision and pressing stop on the recording.

**_Unexpected Halt X (WND/INCAP/KIA? Ref.a4 3d.3)_**

_**End of recording (2:39:23 L)**_

Six stood still. He dropped the helmet and backed up a few steps. He looked over at John, who was now looking at him with what he assumed to be the same disbelief that he felt.

Six's next immediate reaction was to look around the room. In the recording, there were marines going limp and dying, not to mention blood spraying in several directions. But the room was clean, minus Jenkins' hanging corpse above them. This puzzled Six.

"What happened to the rest of them?" Six said. John remained silent, stunned by what he had just watched. Those things broke through a foot of solid steel and killed or incapacitated every marine in the room, then took them with, leaving the room nearly spotless.

"How did they do that?" John asked.

"What?" Six replied.

"The room is clean, minus our friend on the ceiling. How did they do it?"

"I don't know..." Six said, a chilling thought running down his spine. "Maybe..."

"Maybe what, Six?" John said.

"Maybe... Maybe they took control of them. Took control of their bodies. Like the Sangheili." Six said. As he said it, he realized that he was one hundred percent correct. There was no other logical explanation.

John looked at the helmet that Six had dropped on the floor for a moment, then looked back up at Six. "That's insane."

"I know." Six replied. The two Spartans looked at each other for a few more moments, and then Six walked towards the blown open door. "Come on. We need to find out exactly what the fuck is going on here." He said to John. He put both of his arms in between the one foot thick steel doors, hoping to open them a little wider. He pushed with all of his might, but instead of opening, the doors bent inwards from pure force. Six stepped back, admiring his handiwork. "Stay close." He said to John, motioning him forward. The two raised their guns, Six raising his DMR and John raising his assault rifle, and they pushed forward, both very rattled by the recording. Six couldn't help but have his heart pound in his chest like a train. This went beyond even his fear of the underground.

This was pure, unfiltered terror.

* * *

**Sorry that it took so long to put this damn chapter up! My computer has been acting screwy recently, and I had to write the whole thing on my tablet. Not fun! Anyways, as always, have a wonderful day/night/etc.!**

**Keep reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	23. Shafted

**Hello, everyone! On the 16th, when I was supposed to upload this, my computer had a meltdown and I had to let it cool down for a few days before I could post it. At the same time, my tablet was acting up, and it does this weird thing where it won't turn on at random times, even when at full charge. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy this newest chapter of WINSS!**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

"Shh!" Six said suddenly.

"What?" John asked.

"...Never mind. I thought I heard something." Six replied. "I guess it was nothing."

They were still inside of the facility, and the power hadn't come back on, meaning that there was no backup generator. Ever since they had watched the recording just a few minutes prior, Six had tried to pay a lot more attention to his surroundings. Once or twice, they had heard noises above and around them. The two were wary of the new threat that they had discovered, and were both determined to get out alive.

Each step that they took echoed down the corridor loudly, not from how hard they stepped but from the lack of noise other than them. It was too quiet.

A nearby pipeline that was running across the wall exploded loudly in front of them, startling Six, who had been taking point at the time. They both raised their guns at the billowing cloud of hot steam that was now shooting out in front of them, but nothing appeared along with the scalding vapor to surprise them.

"Geez..." Six said. Six and John crouched under the steam and kept moving forward, anxious. As they approached a room near the end of the hall, the whole hallway shook. More pipes burst around them, filling the corridor with thick steam clouds.

"Whoa!" Six yelled as he became unbalanced. "What is this, some kind of earthquake?"

"I don't know." John replied. The shaking subsided for the moment, but a new rumbling began, this time further down the hall. Six could see condensation forming on his visor. He tried to wipe it off, but the metal of his glove and robotic hand provided no help to unfog his sight.

"They need to put window wipers on these things." Six said jokingly. John said nothing in response.

"Alright let's..." Six said, trailing off. The rumbling noise began to grow louder. The ground once again shook beneath Six's feet, and ceiling panels became loose above him. The loud sound of metal tearing echoed through the hall. The sound repeated, closer now. It took Six a moment to realize that the doors lining the corridor were being torn open.

"Six, what is that noise?" John asked. "It sounds like something is coming."

"I don't think that we should stick around to find out." Six replied.

The steam blew out of the pipeline harder, pushing Six to the side. He reached out behind him, grabbing John by the shoulder, and pulled him forward. "Come on." Six said.

The pitter-patter of tiny feet sounded behind them. It sounded just like the small creatures that attacked Keyes and the squad in the recording.

"Alright, move your ass!" Six said to John, breaking into a sprint. John followed closely behind.

As they broke through the cloud of steam, the two Spartans reached the end of the hallway. The doorway at the end was an elevator, but it wasn't operating correctly. Six called the elevator multiple times, but it wouldn't budge.

"Get the doors. I've got your back." Six said. John walked up to the doors and began to pry them open as Six aimed down the hallway. The tiny footsteps emanating from down the hall were very close now. Any second, and the creatures would be upon them.

"KYYYACHHK!" Something screeched from above. Six whipped his DMR upwards, towards the ceiling, knocking a ceiling panel out of the way as it fell. Another one of the undead creatures that they had seen in the forest, this one not Sangheili, but Human, was now falling down towards him. It had large, swordlike arms, and in was plunging down at Six. He rolled to the side, the monster just barely missing him. Six looked up at the new threat. Behind the monster, John had just finished prying the doors open to the elevator.

"Klkllrrkikikikik..." It snarled, making sickening clicking noises as it turned to Six.

"Move it, John!" Six shouted. John rolled out of the way elevator shaft as Six kicked the creature full force through the now opened doors. It screeched as it was launched five feet backwards and down the shaft.

The tiny creatures from the recording were now upon them, jumping all over the two. Six fired his DMR repeatedly, killing several, but not many. John batted them off of himself with his free hand as he fired at clusters of them on the ground with his assault rifle, killing many more than Six had.

"We need to climb up the elevator shaft!" Six yelled. They couldn't fight through the tiny creatures, as there were too many. He ran full speed ahead and leapt across, clearing the empty space that was the shaft, and grabbed the ladder on the other side. "Jump! I've got your hand!"

John fired the rest of his clip, knocked one of the small creatures off of himself, turned and jumped towards Six. With no running start, he just barely grabbed Six's hand. He grabbed the ladder with his free hand, let go of Six's, and the two began to climb.

"Six?!" John said.

"Yeah?!"

"They're following us!"

Six looked below them. Several of the larger creatures, the undead Humans and Sangheili, were trying to clear the gap. Six watched as four of the disgusting things made the jump and started climbing on the ladder below them.

Wait. They weren't using the ladder.

They were climbing the wall.

"Shit! Double time, John!" Six yelled, speeding up in his climbing. He dared to look down again, and saw a wave of the creatures, at least a dozen, jumped over the gap and latched on to the wall as well. He tried to move even faster when he saw this. When he looked back up, however, there was a new obstacle coming at them.

"Are those sparks?" Six said. "Shit. I think that's the elevator! And it's coming down!"

The two were almost to the next exit for the elevator, a door several floors above where they started, but the elevator was coming down fast. Just a few more yards, and...

Six grabbed the ledge with an iron grip, and began to pull himself up on the ledge, his robotic arm hanging free for John to grab. John grunted as he pulled himself up, but something pulled him down. Six lost his grip and fell, grabbing on to the rung on the ladder below the edge.

"One of those Sangheili things is on my leg!" John said. Six looked below John and saw that, indeed, one of them was latched on to John, and it was pulling hard. Six pulled as hard as he could, but the combined weight of the Sangheili and John was a little more than he expected. Six had lifted ordinary Sangheili above his head before. Something about these creatures' ability to possess the dead made them a lot heavier.

"The elevator is just a few seconds from hitting us! Do you have a plan?!" John said.

"Kind of. Try to shoot it with your magnum!"

John unholstered his handgun and fired at the creature. After four shots, it fell. There were even more coming, and the elevator was all but right on top of them. In the time span of half of a second, he came up with the most stupidly brilliant plan that he had ever had. If he could get them both up and over through the doors, then the elevator would crush the creatures below them.

"Stop shooting at them!" Six shouted. As John was distracted and looked up at him, Six threw John up and over, through the opened elevator doors.

"Six!" John yelled as he rolled through the doors. Just as he was about to reach up to the ledge himself, the elevator hit Six just as he extended his hand. Great. Now, he had to improvise. He used his robotic arm arm to push on the elevator, slowing it down to almost a full stop. He grabbed on to the bar on the bottom of the elevator and began to punch a hole in the bottom. Just as he made a hole in the floor, an infected Human grabbed his leg. Six started stretching the width of the space that he had created, but then, another creature grabbed on to the one below him. The weight was heavy, but he started pulling himself up. He pulled his DMR and shot the top creature directly between the eyes, causing the rest of them to fall. Dozens upon dozens more of them were climbing up, however, and Six was almost grabbed again before he pulled himself up. He kneeled down at the hole and began pressing it closed before he jumped up and punched the emergency exit open. As he was about to climb out, the elevator started moving again. He pulled himself up, and grabbed on to the nearest ledge, which happened to be the ladder. The elevator fell quickly from the combined weight of all of the creatures, effectively killing them by knocking them off or crushing them. Six looked down, then looked up at John. Then looked down again.

"You just saw that, right?" Six said.

"You're nuts." John replied.

Six simply chuckled. "You know, I had to improvise a bit." He said, pulling himself up. "It isn't the craziest plan I've ever come up with."

"I fear for your sanity." John said jokingly.

"Alright. I guess that we need to find a new way out of here." Six said as John helped pull him up.

"Seems that way." John replied.

"Well, come on. There's bound to be another way out." Six said as they walked along the new corridor.

They walked along in silence for a while, but then something happened.

"Hey, the lights turned back on!" Six said. "Awesome. Maybe we can find another elevator."

"I'd prefer stairs, thanks." John said.

The two walked down the corridor in search of a new way up, but little did they know, they hadn't even begun.

* * *

**P.S.**

**To whoever the guest is that keeps posting reviews for every single chapter, I appreciate that you enjoy the story, but you need to stop spamming my inbox. Nothing against you, just chill out a bit.**

**Peace out for now, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	24. Migraine

**To whom it may concern, I have not posted a chapter of this story in a while. I have been caught in the middle of family matters and I haven't had the time to write. Hopefully the worst of it is over, however, and I can continue to write regularly again.**

**SUPER IMPORTANT PLEASE READ BELOW**

**I have rewritten the first chapter almost entirely, adding in more background information on Six, how he became a Spartan, and his brief life before. I also edited chapter two a bit. READ THAT SHIT**

**~Husky**

* * *

"Found something." Six said. The two Spartans had checked the entire floor, yet there were no stairs to be found. Six, although not keen on using the thing, had just found another elevator far from the one that had broken down.

"Not another elevator?" John asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah, it is. This one looks like it works though..." Six replied, pressing the button to call the elevator. The down arrow lit up blue, and a moment later, the elevator doors started opening. Six raised his gun and checked the inside. Nothing.

What a nice change of pace.

"Elevator's clear. Come on." Six said. John walked in and Six pressed the button for the ground floor. They started to go up, normally and without error. Six was surprised that this elevator was actually working correc-

The elevator jolted to a halt. Six knew that it had been a longer ride down. The doors weren't opening.

"Of course." Six said. "I'm gonna have to pry open these doors."

Just as he was getting ready to open them with force, they opened up by themselves.

"Uh... alright." Six said. As he stepped out of the elevator, he heard the sound of gunshots down the hall, followed by a loud scream.

"Come on!" Six said to John, and they raced towards the gunshots. When they got there, however, they were too late to do very much of anything. A pair of marines and a Sangheili were being attacked by the creatures, and the blast doors were closed. The glass on the doors were thick, but the two Spartans had a good view of what was happening.

The marines were shooting wildly at the creatures, killing many, but not nearly enough.

"Hey! Hey!" Six yelled, knocking on the glass. "Over here!"

One of the marines looked towards the door. He looked back at the wall of creatures, shot a few, and ran at the door.

"We're Spartans! We can help!" Six yelled.

"Oh, thank god. I'm opening the door, alright?" The marine said.

"Okay, be quick." Six said, looking at the Sangheili oddly. "What's with the Sangheili?"

The marine looked up for a second, and continued hacking the door controls. "We found him a little while ago. He was too scared to even shoot at us, and he was speaking in full Wortish, but he came with us. I think that he's a new recruit. His armor is different from normal Elites." The marine said.

"As much as I hate the Covenant, I almost feel sorry for him." Six said.

"Almost done..." The marine said. "There! The door should-" He halted. As the door opened, his eye started twitching.

"You alright? Come on!" Six said, shaking the marine.

The marine looked over at Six. "Klilikikikikik..."

"Oh, shi-" Six yelled, but he was cut off by the ensuing explosion of the marine's head all over them.

"It's in my visor! I can't see!" John said, wiping blood off of himself. Six had gotten the worst of it, though, as there was brain pelted all over him, and the marine's jawbone had hit him like a bullet. As Six wiped blood off of his own visor, the creatures in the room ahead killed the other marine and the Sangheili at nearly the same time. The marine's body was still standing up in front of them, twitching and convulsing in seizure-like motions as one of the monsters possessed his corpse. He turned quickly, rotten flesh wrapping around his severed neck and forming a new head on top of it.

"Did you clean your visor?" Six asked.

"Yeah, I'm good!" John replied

"Then let's move!" Six yelled. The two ran to the left as fast as they could, with the possessed marine and hundreds of the tiny creatures close behind. They cleared at least a quarter a mile of twists and turns in just a minute, and they were still running.

"How fucking big is this place?!" Six yelled.

"No clue. Keep running!" John said.

About thirty seconds later, they reached yet another elevator. The doors were busted open, but the elevator itself looked at least operational.

"I've never been so happy to see an elevator." John said.

They ran in, and Six looked for an up button.

There wasn't one.

"We can only go down!" Six said.

"Better than being six feet down!" John replied, raising his gun. They had out-ran the creatures, but they were still getting closer. Six wasn't sure, but he thought that they could smell him. Or, you know, hear him.

"There they are!" John said. He fired on them, but they were still a solid twenty feet away. It would take them only mere seconds to catch up.

The doors started closing, but not fast enough. The marine jumped forward and stuck himself in between the doors. The elevator started going down, and the pressure of the elevator cut the marine's possessed corpse in half. It fell to the ground at John's feet, still squirming.

"Is it dead?" John asked.

"I think so..." Six said.

The creature stopped moving and went silent.

Six looked at it oddly. Maybe they destroyed its heart? The marine's brain was already gone, so maybe-

The creature looked up at Six lightning fast, startling him. Before he could draw his pistol, the creature launched itself at him with the strength of its arms and pinned him to the wall. He struggled with it for a minute until he could get his robotic arm free, and he started punching it in the head. It's flesh was soft, but dense, like rubber. He punched it as hard as he could, but barely did any damage to it. Suddenly, John shot it in the head with his assault rifle, killing it.

Six pushed it off of himself as quickly as he could. He took deep breaths and put his hands on his knees. His vision was flashing, both blurry and bright as he slid down the wall and sat down.

"You alright?" John asked

"Not at all." Six replied. His head hurt massively. It was like a migraine magnified by ten pounding against his skull. He put his hands up to his head, clutching it.

_**"TURN BACK, FLESH CREATURE!"**_

The aching pain in his head diminished, but the deep and booming voice echoed in his mind.

"Did you hear that?" Six asked.

"Hear what?" John asked.

Great. He was going insane.

"Never mind." Six said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Six said.

But he was not fine at all. The voice's warning echoed in his head like the sound of a cannon. His head still pulsed lightly, a minor headache setting in. He didn't know how, but he knew that they were about to stumble upon something huge.

What it was, however, he was unsure.

* * *

**It's probably safe to assume that this section of the story is almost done, and now I'm about halfway done with the first game. It isn't finished yet, but I'd like to thank all of my loyal readers for their support. Make sure to check back k and look at those first two chapters, they're a bit different since you saw them last.**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	25. Old Memories

**Just remembered that I have a handful of followers to attend to every once and a while. Sorry guys.**

**This chapter will be in honor of 25k story views. It will be at least 4,000 words, and it will be the last section of the 343 Guilty Spark mission and of the mission that follows.**

**Oh yeah and I made this fanfic approximately five months ago so**

**ALMOST HALF YEAR ANNIVERSARY YEAH.**

**I'm such a loser.**

**Alrighty, guys and gals.**

**It is 1:14 AM**

**I am so lucid right now.**

**Let's write a goddamn fanfic.**

**~Husky**

* * *

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open as Six attempted to get back on to his feet. The evil words that the voice had bellowed now echoed in his mind. Where did it come from? John hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary, but the crippling pain in Six's skull as the grotesque voice worked it's way into his head had unnerved and disturbed him.

Was he going insane?

"Six. We have to move." John said with an outstretched hand. Six grabbed it and pulled himself up. He cracked his neck loudly and raised his DMR from his side to his chest.

"You okay?" John asked.

"Oh yeah. Never been better." Six replied. He was lying, of course. What normal person ever heard evil voices in their head? "So I guess the only thing we can really do now is go down."

"Seems that way." John replied.

Six walked out of the elevator. The hallway outside of the enclosed space was dark. The power hadn't gone out for the entire station again, as the lights in the elevator were still operating. Six turned on his flashlight and, with John close behind him, proceeded to round the corner with his gun raised. So far, so good. It was unfortunate, nonetheless quite repetitive, that they needed to find a new way up. Six took a wild guess that there were no stairs on that floor either, meaning that, yet again, they were going to have to hunt for an elevator.

Suddenly, the hallway began to shake. It started light, but quickly moved to intense in mere seconds, shattering ceiling bulbs and knocking Six off balance. He toppled into the wall as he clutched his head, the sharp pain that he had felt in the elevator returning. Something wet dripped down his lip. His nose was bleeding.

"Six!" John said.

_**"YOU DIDN'T **__**HEED **__**MY **__**WARNING. **__**NOW, **__**YOU WILL BREAK**__**."**_

"AGHHHHHHH!" Six yelled. The pain in his head was mind splitting, increasing tenfold from when it was present in the elevator. Six clutched his head with both of his hands, screaming in pain as John tried to keep his balance on the shaking floor.

_**"PATHETIC, LIKE THE OTHERS. BUT... DIFFERENT. AN ALREADY BROKEN MIND. SCARS LEFT UNTREATED. YOUR LIFE IS SORROW.**_

_**LET ME END THAT SORROW."**_

Six ran out of breath seconds later, coughing heavily. The pain stabbed his mind. His nose bled profusely. He was in the most amount of pain that he had ever been in. Worse than any gunshot wound, worse than even when he lost his arm. He couldn't take it.

The pain heightened to its peak when Six blacked out.

* * *

Six lay there while the quaking subsided, motionless. John rushed to his side as soon as he regained his footing. The rise and fall of his chest told John that he was at least alive, but he didn't know exactly what was going on. First things first, figure out what the problem was. John had a little bit of medical training, and plenty of medical treatment, so he knew a few things. He grabbed Six's helmet and twisted it to the side, unlocking it, and pulled it off. There was blood still flowing from his nose, but there wasn't much around to stem the bleeding, so he let that be for now. He checked his pulse for an irregular heartbeat, but his heartbeat was normal. He put his two fingers to Six's temple, as he had been clutching his head.

John felt nothing, it was quite possibly a severe migraine, but as he was about to pull away, he felt something pulse. He figured that it was just Six's heartbeat, but something stopped him. It was heavier than a heartbeat. It was almost as if his brain itself was pulsing.

What in the hell had happened to him?

John knew that he had seen a few wall mounted med-kits earlier when they were in the upper floors. This must have been an active facility at some point, meaning that there probably was a med-kit not far from where he stood. He looked down the hallway for the telltale red glow, but there was nothing in sight. Damn.

"Alright. I hate that it's come to this, but you obviously can't move on your own..." John said softly as he reattached the helmet and hoisted Six over his shoulder. Despite the extremely heavy Mjolnir armor, he was surprisingly light. Well, probably not, but for John, he wasn't much. John walked down the hallway with his assault rifle in his free hand, Six held over him with the other, looking for a med-kit.

Hopefully Six would regain consciousness before anything bad happened. Knowing this place, however, that was going to be very near impossible.

* * *

_Six sat floating in the middle of a void. Blackness was all that could be seen other than his own body. He realized where he was and looked at his hands. Both were made of flesh and blood. Six looked at his left arm in confusion. Six didn't know it at the time, but his perception of both of his arms as whole was simply__ a memory, nothing more. He thought about his prosthetic, his Mjolnir armor and himself at present. His fingers changed first, as did his feet, but the change spread and covered him. Now, he was wearing his suit. His arm was the way it was supposed to be. He realized that if thinking of himself changed what he looked like, then maybe if he closed his eyes and thought hard enough..._

_He opened his eyes. He had thought about home. The blackness had been becoming bright and white when he had opened his eyes. He needed to concentrate harder._

_One... two..._

_The infinite void around him changed to a grassy field. He dropped from where he had been floating, just a few feet up, and landed on the ground. He looked around. He now knew that he was in his own mind, but it all felt extremely real. Almost as if It had happened before. It wasn't a dream._

_It was a memory._

_He turned to his left. There was a small child running towards him at full speed. Six noticed him at the last second, but he had no time to react. The kid ran right through him as if he didn't exist. Six raised his hand to a nearby plant and waved it at a branch. His hand phased through the stems and leaves. He couldn't interact with his surroundings, a bystander in his own memory. The small. Child turned and smiled. Six looked to where he was smiling. Close behind him was a young woman with dark hair. She was smiling, chasing the boy as the two of them laughed. Six recognized the woman, but he was not sure where he had seen her before._

_"Slow down, honey! Mommy needs to catch her breath." The woman said laughing, her hands on her knees. The boy turned around and walked up to her._

_"Mommy?" The boy asked._

_"Yes, sweetie?" The mother replied._

_"Where is dad?" He asked._

_Her face froze. "Well, he's at work right now baby, don't worry." She said. A tear rolled down her cheek._

_"Why are you crying?" The kid asked._

_The mother didn't answer. "Here, why don't I take you to that ice cream place you really like? It'll be fun." She said instead._

_"Okay." The boy said happily. They walked across the dandelion covered field holding hands. As they got further and further away, the memory faded. He was back in the void._

_It didn't take very long for him to realize that the woman was his mother. He didn't remember that day, but he remembered everything they said, word for word, and that was most certainly his mom. He had gotten a double scoop of cookie dough ice cream after that, and regretted it when he got a brain freeze. And the reason that his mother had been crying was because his father had hit her. Hard. It had happened the night before, he remembered now. They were getting a divorce. It happened shortly before he was taken into the SPARTAN III program. _

_Meaning that the kid in the memory was definitely him._

_If he could remember things in here that he never could out there, then maybe..._

_He now sat in the passenger seat of a car. He looked to his left. He recognized the driver to be his babysitter that day. She was on the phone with his mother._

_"Yeah, they're doing good, him __especially. They're very well behaved. Do you want to talk to him?" She said. "Hey, buddy." The babysitter said to his kid-self. Six looked in to the back seat. Himself from the memory sat in the middle seat, two other much smaller children in car seats flanking his left and right. He knew immediately that they were his baby brother and sister. He couldn't remember their names, a side effect of the intense mental conditioning that was the SPARTAN III program. His young self looked up at the babysitter._

_"Telephone. Your mom wants to talk to you." The babysitter said to him. Young Six grabbed the phone and raised it to his ear._

_"Hi, mommy." He said._

_Six could hear her, clear as day, as if he were really on the phone himself. It isn't like he needed to, though. _

_He had the words of this particular conversation burned into his mind._

_"Hello, sweetie. How are you doing?" She asked._

_"Good." Young Six said._

_"Hey, buddy?"_

_"Yes mommy?"_

_"Mommy loves you very very much, okay? Don't you ever forget that."_

_Young Six smiled. "Okay, mommy. I love you too." He said._

_"Could you give the phone back to Roseanne, now, baby?" She asked._

_"Okay." Young Six said. He handed the phone to the babysitter and looked out of the window. He looked up at the sky. He saw something. Six remembered what happened next. He really didn't need a visual aid._

_He didn't stop the memory._

_He looked out of the window with his young self and saw something falling from the sky nearby his house._

_"Roseanne, what's that?" Young Six asked. "It looks like a shooting star."_

_"That's silly. It's daytime, no stars are out. Where do you see-" She stopped talking and looked at what was falling from the sky._

_"Roseanne? Roseanne, what is-" Six mother said over the phone._

_It was a mortar strike._

_Bombs hit the neighborhood at fast speeds, blowing up entire blocks in less than a second houses collapsed inward upon themselves and bystanders were disintegrated. One mortar was less than one hundred feet from the car. _

_The call ended._

_The memory faded from Six's view as he dropped to his knees and weeped like a child. He wasn't ready to go through losing his mother again. That day was what made him into what he now was, a weapon by the UNSC's design. If his mother was still alive, he never would have been chosen. His father had divorced his mother the year before, and he was nowhere to be found in the aftermath, so he had nowhere to go. They put him into foster care. Then, one day, a few weeks after, a pair of adults in uniform had picked him up and sent him to the UNSC._

_The reason that he hated the Covenant as much as he did wasn't because of the savagery. Not the bloodlust. Not even the death of his mother, though all of these things added fire to the flame that was his empathy._

_It was because they made him into who he was._

_He heard something now, not in his head. It was faint, but it was there._

_Wake up._

* * *

Six inhaled deeply, waking from the time he had spent in his own head. He sat up as fast as he could and backed into the wall, intense breaths coming from his lungs. He looked around. John was there next to him, and something was pounding in the distance. His ears were still ringing.

"He's awake!" A voice said. It came from somewhere in front of him. John crouched at his side.

"Hey, rise and shine." John said.

"What...?" Six asked.

"Whatever you heard in the hallway knocked you out cold. I've had to carry you for the past hour and a half." John answered. "It wasn't a smooth ride."

"But I was just... I..." Six muttered. It was a dream. It had to have been, but it had felt too real. He was right the first time. He had been inside of his own head. There wasn't time to dwell on it now, but he would address what had had happened later. Right now, he needed to find out what was going on.

"Where... are we? Are we still in the facility?" Six asked.

"No. No, we're out." John said. "But we still need a way off of this rock. I made contact with the pilot that flew us here, she said that she needed all of us to stay put and wait for her to find a suitable landing spot."

"Good. Good..." Six said. "...wait. What do you mean, all of us?"

"We ran into a few marines when we hit the surface. They've been holed up here for hours." John said, pointing at a pair of marines behind him. They were checking guns and loading them, getting ready in case they had to fight. "When they saw us, they dropped everything that they were doing to help. I called evacuation about a minute and a half before you woke up. It should be here soon."

"Oh, man..." Six said as he attempted to stand. He got up too fast and became dizzy, his head pulsing. Six fell forward and didn't break his fall. John grabbed his arm and lifted him up.

"You alright?" John asked Six.

"It... It was in my head..." Six muttered.

"What?"

"I heard a, a voice in my head, and there was this intense pain, I..." Six said. "You didn't hear it?"

"Are you sure you're not going to faint on me again?" John asked.

"I... forget it." Six said.

"Once we get back to base, we can worry about that." John said. "Right now, we need to keep an eye out for-"

"Monsters!" One of the marines shouted from behind John. He whipped around just in time to see dozens of the creatures pouring from the facility doors. As the marines and John opened fire on the door, Six looked for a weapon. He saw a battle-rifle just a few places to his left and reached for it. He grabbed the stock and pulled it towards himself, squeezing the trigger with his index finger. Six opened fire on the doorway, the burst-fire capability of his weapon killing several of the creatures. His clip ran dry. He slowly got up and reached for a full clip that lay on the ground next to him. As he inserted the magazine into the bottom of the rifle, John went on his radio.

"We're under attack. Where is extraction?" John asked.

"Make your way north, Chief. There's a large tower a few hundred meters away from your current position. If you can find your way to it and get above the fog and foliage canopy, I just might be able to pick you up safely." The pilot said.

"Understood." John said. He looked over to the marines. He caught a glimpse of one of their hands reaching out above the crowd of monsters, but aside from that, there was no sign of them. They were swallowed whole by the horde.

"Can you stand up all of the way?" John asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Six said.

"Then start running!" John said.

Six and John ran to the north as fast as they could, dozens of the vile and hideous undead creatures not far behind. It would only take a minute for them to get to the tower, but the monsters were gaining on them fast. There was no time to turn and shoot, no time to stop moving. One wrong step meant painful death.

"Look! There! The tower!" Six said, pointing straight ahead. They were getting closer, but so were the creatures. Six heard something coming down from the sky and looked up, expecting the clouds to be raining more of the disgusting things. But instead, it was something else.

They looked like little floating machines.

John's have noticed them too, because he looked up as well. One of the machines was slightly different from the rest, spherical in shape with a glowing blue bulb in the middle of it. The other machines glowed blue as well, but that didn't last long. They suddenly flashed a violent shade of crimson and fired lasers from their fronts. The creatures that had been ruthlessly chasing the two Spartans mere moments before were now being cut down effortlessly by the robots, but the creatures countered the attack with sheer numbers.

The spherical one stooped down to Six and John. It flashed a brilliant golden light into their eyes, blinding them. Six covered his visor with his free hand.

When he took it away, they were standing somewhere else. Not on the ground, but on one of the legs of the tower, away from harm and from the battle.

"What the..." Six said, looking at the surface he was standing on. Six, pulled out his magnum from its holster and instinctively raised his gun at the machine, John following suit, but the robot caused them no harm. The light in its center grew brighter.

"Greetings." It said. "I am 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of installation 04."

"What do you want?" Six asked forcibly, gun still raised.

"Only to keep the peace, Reclaimer." It said.

"...Reclaimer?" Six asked.

"Someone has released the Flood, a most dangerous enemy from the time of the Forerunners. I need your assistance. If you'll come with me, please."

"Wait a minute, where are you-" Six said, but was cut off by another blinding flash of light.

When he opened his eyes, the two Spartans and the floating robot known as 343 Guilty Spark were in a new place, this time inside. The area had many red lights, making the room and the Spartans appear as shades of crimson.

"Ah, yes! You're both still alive! Hahahahaha, I am a genius! Do you still have all of your body parts attached, Reclaimers?" Guilty Spark asked.

"No, my arm is gone." Six said, jokingly. He cut the jokes quickly. "What are you? Why did you bring us here?"

"Answers. Now." John said.

"We need to collect the Index in order to activate the installation, of course. Do you not know this? You are Reclaimers, are you not?"

Neither Six nor John could answer that question.

"Ill take your prolonged silence as a definite yes! Oh, you are silly humans, you two. You almost fooled me, but I cannot be fooled! Yes, right this way." Guilty Spark said gleefully. "Doodedodeedo..." It hummed as it flew across the room.

"You think we should follow him?" John asked.

"Do we really have much of a choice?" Six countered.

They followed the machine as it whirled and flew in little motions throughout the air above them. As they went into a nearby hallway, Guilty Spark crashed himself into a wall.

"Strange! Who put that wall there? I would have known if there was a wall there!" It said.

Six simply sighed and kept walking. "Hey, whatsyourface." Six said.

Guilty Spark turned. "My name is 343 Guilty Spark, Reclaimer." It said.

"Is there anything else I can call you? Maybe, oh, I don't know, shorter? Or more conversation friendly?" Six asked.

"You may call me anything that you like, as long as you find it convenient." Guilty Spark replied. "Whatsyourface, however, is disrespectful. My face is not an object."

Six thought for a minute.

"How about... Lightbulb?" Six said.

John chuckled. Guilty Spark stayed silent, however, focusing on a door that they had come across. He hacked it in less than a second and the doors swung open.

"Hmm? Oh yes, I will respond to that name as well, from now on. Lightbulb... it sounds rather..." Guilty Spark pondered, looking for the right word. "...nice. Yes, yes, come along now, Reclaimers. We must get to the Index!"

"What is this "Index" you keep talking about?" John said.

"The Index is a Forerunner device used to activate the installation. Surely you know-"

"What happens when the installation activates? Is it some kind of weapon?" John asked

"Tsk, tsk. 'Tis not a cudgel. It was once used to destroy the Flood by the Forerunners. It succeeded brilliantly. But..."

"What's the but?" Six asked.

"Oh, no no no, no but, forget it. It's nothing. It is a device used to combat the Flood invasion, nothing more. Now, onwards, Reclaimers! To the Index!" Guilty Spark said cheerfully, flying ahead once again.

"I don't trust it." John said.

"Me neither. First I have voices and screaming pain in my head, next, I-"

"What did you say?" Guilty Spark said, turning around and facing directly at Six. "Voices? Describe them. What voices? What pain?"

"Well, while I was in the facility, I-" Six looked up. Guilty Spark sat less than an inch in front of his face. They held a stare for a moment.

"Why did you stop, Reclaimer? Do go on." Guilty Spark said eagerly.

Six, weirded out, pushed Guilty Spark at least a foot further away before he began talking again. "I heard a deep, evil sounding voice. It sounded like someone was scraping a knife across stone. The more it spoke, the more the facility shook, and the more the facility shook, the sharper the pain in my head became."

"Oh. Oh dear... this isn't good." Guilty Spark said softly. "It was not supposed to awaken. Not this early..."

"What are you mumbling?" Six asked.

"What? Oh, nothing. Just a little song. Yes, a song! Sing it with me!" Guilty Spark said, flying off forward once again. "Da dada da dadada doo dee do day do..."

"Well, I've established one thing. It's a very bad liar." Six said.

"You're telling me." John replied.

They really didn't have much choice but to follow the self proclaimed monitor, but something was obviously amiss. This definitely was not a normal, cheery thing like the robot projected it to be, that much was clear. Whatever this mysterious Index was, and whatever happened when used with the installation, Six was going to find out.

Even if it killed him.

* * *

**Muhahahahahahaha! I totally did it!**

**I mean, the 4,000+ words of this chapter may include the top and bottom sections that I leave in bold every once and a while, but I did it!**

**What am I crediting myself for? You guys are the real reason I could do it! That handful of you that read a new chapter every time it comes up immediately, the hundreds of people who stumble on to this story daily, and just kind people who comment on my story positively. You're all the best.**

**Keep reading, you wonderful people.**

**Keep reading, Wolfgang.**

**~Husky**


	26. Lightbulb

**I kind of finished this chapter then forgot about it.**

**Derp.**

**~Husky**

* * *

Six and John walked down the hall, still feeling uneasy. The pain in Six's head was now only faint, but still noticeable. Guilty Spark definitely knew something about what had happened, maybe even an explanation as to what it was, but the stupid lightbulb was nowhere close to telling him. All that he was worried about was this "Index" that he kept telling the two Spartans about, and how it couldn't fall into the hands of those creatures, the Flood.

Six wanted answers. Honest, true answers. But he wasn't sure he was going to get them.

"Hmm. Oh, dear. This door is locked with a six hundred and forty-nine digit security code." Guilty Spark said. "This may take a moment, Reclaimers. Allow me the fullest of concentration, please."

Six thought about that for a moment.

"No." He said.

John looked at him funny.

Guilty Spark, despite his unchanging shape and facial expression, looked rather confused. "No? Well, why not? Is there a problem, Reclaimer?" It said.

"Yeah, there is. I need you to answer me one question about all of this." Six said.

Guilty Spark chuckled. "Well, why didn't you just say so? I can answer any question you-"

"I want an honest answer this time, Lightbulb." Six said aggressively. "What the _hell _was inside of my head?"

"Well, I, I, for your safety, Reclaimer, I-"

"Answer me." Six said. "NOW!"

Guilty Spark sighed. "If you insist, Reclaimer." He span around for a moment, as if he was looking for something, then stopped. "Here we go."

A projection came out of his eye and stopped in front of Six. It was covered in writing that he couldn't read, and pictures of the Flood creatures.

"What am I looking at?" Six asked.

"This is data that the Forerunners stored on the Flood. Now if you'll give me a moment..."

The hologram scrolled down, past paragraphs of information. One paragraph in particular caught Six's eye.

"Stop." He said. "What does that say?" Pointing at the paragraph.

"It answers your question." Guilty Spark said. "It is known by the Forerunners to be called The Gravemind. It is the heart and the brain of the Flood, and the force that controls them."

"There's no way that was in my head. I heard a voice, not-" Six said.

"The Gravemind has mastered telepathy. It can telepathically speak to living organisms, and it uses this power to command the Flood as its pawns."

"Its pawns? Then what does that make us?" Six asked.

"An annoying obstacle." Guilty Spark said simply. "The goal of the Flood is to annihilate your race."

"Then this Gravemind should be our target." John said.

"I'm afraid not. The Index is our top priority, and it will not be overshadowed by a minor nuisance." Guilty Spark said.

"Minor? It controls the Flood! If we don't go after-"

Guilty Spark changed color, from a soft blue to a violent red.

"_The Index,_" It said. "_Is more important than your human grudge, Reclaimer._"

Guilty Spark's color changed back to normal as he turned back towards the door and began hacking its security in silence.

Whatever this Index was, it must be really important.

"When we actually activate the installation..." John said. "...What happens?"

"Simple. The Flood will be erased. Eradicated completely." Guilty Spark said. "Now, if you'll just give me one more moment of silence..."

The locks clicked loudly, tumbling, and the large double doors slid open.

"Oh dear." Guilty Spark said.

The room was filled with Flood forms, both Human and Sangheili.

"For this fight, I recommend that you wear at least a level twelve combat skin. But the both of you are only wearing level two... and your weapons... tsk tsk." Guilty Spark said.

"What does that even mean?" Six said.

"Can you do anything about out weapon problem, at least?" John said as the Flood noticed them.

"Erm... maybe... let me think-" It said.

The Flood rushed the door. There were maybe twenty in all.

"Just aim for their torsos! That's where they're vulnerable! Eek!" Guilty Spark said, flying high above the Flood. "I'll be right back! I have faith in you, Reclaimers!"

"And don't you have quite the way of showing it, Tinkerbell?!" Six yelled, raising his battle rifle.

He had to make these shots count, as he only had the one clip. He fired at the oncoming Flood with precision. Guilty Spark was correct; when you shot the torsos of the Flood creatures, they fell apart. What he didn't tell them, however, is that the small Flood polyps burst out of the larger ones when they died. They crawled quickly at the Spartans, making tiny screeching noises as they advanced.

"Haha! There we are!" Guilty Spark said. Six looked up to find a few weapons and assorted equipment fall from above. He grabbed a shotgun out of the air.

"Thanks." John said, picking up a thruster pack and attaching it to his back. He also grabbed an energy sword and pulled out his combat knife. He took a stance almost as if he was bracing himself, and flew forward, purple fire shooting out from the back of the pack as he cut down several Flood forms.

Six, although admiring John's close quarters skill, decided on a slightly different approach. He pumped the shotgun and fired a blast directly into the crowd, blowing a hole in one of them. He pumped the shotgun once more and fired again. He continued to do this until his clip ran dry, and, having no more rounds, held the shotgun like a blade and swung it full force into the nearest Flood form's head, smashing it. He backed off to go grab another weapon, simultaneously firing at the Flood with his magnum. Meanwhile, John was in a bit of a pickle, as his close quarters method had him being hit on all sides. A Flood form finally got a decent hit in him, knocking him four feet backwards through the crowd and emptying his shield. They ran at him while he was stunned and pounced.

John activated his thruster pack at the last second, launching himself across the floor backwards. He regained his footing and Six fired into the crowd with two DMRs. Each shot hit its mark, blasting a Flood form away with every bullet. John raised his magnum and fired with accuracy equally as deadly.

As they killed the last remaining Flood forms, Guilty Spark flew back down to them.

"Splendid fighting, Reclaimers!" It said.

"Uh... thank you?" Six said. "Now we have to go get the Index, right?"

"Yes, but this is only the first floor." Guilty Spark said.

"How many floors are there?" John asked.

"Four, including this one." Guilty Spark said cheerfully.

"Well, I don't see anyone else around. Guess it's just you, me, and spark plug over there." Six said to John, pointing at Guilty Spark.

"Oh, and I believe that I can help you with your armor problem as well. If you would just give me a moment..." Guilty Spark said, trailing off.

Suddenly, hard light materialized on their armor.

"What is this? Overshielding?" Six asked.

"Of a sort." Guilty Spark said, chuckling.

"Well, as long as it protects us, I'm fine with it." John said.

"Alright. Let's go get that Index." Six said.

"Oh, and Reclaimers?" Guilty Spark asked.

"Yeah?" Six said.

"This facility is filled with Flood combat forms. Be very careful." It said.

"One wrong step could mean the end of you, and that would be...

...unfortunate."

* * *

**Damn. School starts back up soon. But that means that I'll have access to a faster computer on occasion, and for the past few chapters I've been writing on my tablet.**

**I'm still not looking forward to it though.**

**~Husky**


	27. The Goliath

**Just realized that I made an error last chapter! The Library is not Ten floors, but Four! Silly me. I fixed it in the previous chapter, so it isn't that big of a deal. Anywho, I have some great news!**

**NicKenny, founder of a forum called The Freelancer Collaboration, a large group which is responsible for a fair share of great Halo Fanfiction about Red vs Blue, has contacted me with the opportunity to write in collaboration with several others to create a fanfic based on the exploits of Fireteam Crimson, the small group of custom Spartans that you and your friends can play as in Halo 4's Spartan Ops mode (Which, I don't mean to brag, I'm pretty damn good at, but that's neither here nor there). This could be the opportunity for me to really shine, and, if I get chosen to write, they will let me create a SPARTAN of my own for the squad. I'm in such a good mood, so I just thought that I would let you all know by giving you this message, and another chapter in the story that caught their attention!**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**

* * *

"You can see how the body has been transformed by the genetic restructuring of the Flood infection." Guilty Spark said, hovering over the corpse of a Flood combat form that John and Six had killed moments before. "The small creatures carry spores that cause a host to mutate. The mutated host then produces spores that can pass the Flood infection to others. It is insidious, yet elegant. As long as any hosts remain, the Flood is... virulent."

"What does that mean for humanity?" Six asked.

"What it means is if we don't stop the Flood here, this war will become three sided." John replied.

"Precisely." Guilty Spark replied.

"How close are we to the Index? This is the third floor, right?" Six asked.

"Yes, it is. The Index is right on top of your current position. You need only to clear the floor above, and nothing stands in your way." Guilty Spark said.

"I don't see why we should put it off, then. Stay close, John. You too, Lightbulb." Six said, raising the shotgun that he had found on the floor below. The two Spartans walked up the stairs side by side as Guilty Spark followed close behind them. When they reached the top, they were greeted by another locked door, this one quite different from the rest.

"It's a holographic lock." John said.

"I used to know a guy who cracked these things all of the time. It took him an hour, when he was at his best." Six said. "Hey, spark plug. You think that you can open this one?"

"It should take no more than thirty-nine seconds." Guilty Spark said.

"Good." Six said.

Thirty-nine seconds later, the rings around the holographic lock's center re-oriented, and the door opened wide. The inside of the room was very dim, the only bright spot being a light at the top of a short staircase on the other side. As they entered the room, Six stepped on something soft and fleshlike. He looked down and noticed that he was stepping on the exposed wormy arm of a Hunter. It's body was hidden in the shadow to his left, and if he focused, he could see it clearly.

"I think turning on night vision would be a good plan." Six said, clicking the button on his helmet to do so. John did the same.

Even with night vision, the room was almost entirely empty, save the Hunter corpse Six had stepped on. Six heard the pattering of miniscule feet, but ignored it. It was most likely more of those Flood spores inside of the vents, a normal sound for the Library. It would only be troublesome if they came down and attacked. One thing that stood out was a large metal box attached to the wall. Six walked to it. He found a latch on the side of the box and busted the lock with the butt of his shotgun. The box contained several grenades of various types. Six grabbed two of each, and closed the box. John found a lightly used energy sword clutched in the hand of a dead Sangheili that had been slouching behind a support beam on the other side if the room. He pulled out his other energy sword and deployed both, one in each hand.

"That looks badass. It suits you." Six said.

"Enough fooling about! My sensors indicate that the Index is just beyond this room." Guilty Spark said.

"Relax. It isn't going anywhere." Six said. "If there were any Flood or Covenant that wanted it as bad as you do, they would likely have it. Besides, you still haven't told us exactly what it does, only hints that it will activate the Halo ring and destroy the Flood. Why-"

"_Enough questions!_" Guilty Spark said, turning red again. "_The Index will end the Flood threat once more, plain and simple!_"

Once more?

Suddenly, sickening sounds emanated from behind them. Guilty Spark turned blue again, looking at the source of the noises with intensity. Six and John turned around to see the corpse of the Hunter from earlier begin to move.

"Oh dear." Guilty Spark said.

"Open the door. Now." Six said.

As Guilty Spark went to work, the Hunter's body began to stand. It was twitching and pulsing, Flood spores running under and above its armor. Tentacles wrapped around its arms and legs and dense flesh coated its soft wormlike skin. The strength of the tentacles crushed the Hunter's shield and plasma cannon with ease as they shaped the metal, hardening dead flesh around them and creating enormous blades the size of Six. The end result was a massive creature, twice as tall as either Spartan with two large crushing swords and skin denser than rubber. This was no longer a Hunter. This was something else entirely.

It was a beast. A Goliath.

John looked at the Goliath's malformed blades, then looked at his own.

"Damn." He said.

The Goliath charged with a bellowing roar.

Six and John jumped away from each other in separate directions and Guilty Spark flew upwards, and the Goliath rammed into the door. It turned to Six and swung its right sword at him in a sweep. The flat of the blade struck Six directly in the face, hitting him so hard that he slid at least fifteen feet towards the room's entrance. He felt as though he had been hit by a freight train, but managed to get up. John had inflicted a few deep slices in the Goliath, but nothing mortally wounding.

"You okay!?" John said loudly.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Stay focused!"

John ducked another slash from the Goliath's heavy blades and made a leap for its chest. He landed dead center and buried his energy swords into the beast's flesh, causing it to cry out in anger. John's right hand sword deactivated, out of charge, at that moment. Unprepared, he clutched the energy sword in his left hand as tightly as he could and the Goliath attempted to shake him off.

Meanwhile, Six was executing a plan. He grabbed both of the firebomb grenades from his belt and threw them with deadly accuracy at the Goliath's back. The dead flesh burned like paper as it roared.

"They hate fire!" Six yelled out to John.

"Toss me one of those things, will ya?!" John asked.

Six ran towards the grenade box and pulled out the last firebomb grenade. He tossed it directly at John's open hand, hoping that it wouldn't explode on impact. Thankfully, it didn't, and John caught it perfectly. He armed the grenade, shoved it into the Goliath's energy sword wound and jumped off of it, pulling his still operating sword out before he touched the ground. The firebomb exploded, engulfing the Goliath's torso and underlying soft flesh in napalm. It roared and screeched, trying to stop the flame from spreading to no avail. The firebomb cooked the Goliath from the inside, killing it. It fell to its knees, then flat on its face, shaking the room.

Six walked up to John slowly as they looked at the enormous corpse. For a moment, they just stared.

"Splendid! Now, for the Index!" Guilty Spark said, rushing off towards the door.

"How did he just shrug that off?" Six asked.

"No idea." John replied.

Guilty Spark was floating in front of the door. He had no facial expressions, but Six could tell that he was worried.

"What's the problem?" Six asked.

"It seems that during the fight, that Goliath managed to cave the door in. I cannot open it in the traditional manner." Guilty Spark said.

"Hacking is the traditional manner?" John asked.

"Here. Let me try." Six said.

Six stuck his robotic hand in between a crack in the doors and pushed to the side. He stuck his other hand in and spread them. Instead of forcing the doors open, the metal bent to the sides, creating an opening big enough for the Spartans to enter through.

"After you." Six said to Guilty Spark.

He floated through the opening with the two Spartans close behind.

"There it is." Guilty Spark said. "Reclaimers, you may now retrieve the Index."

Six and John walked up to a large terminal at the other end of the room. Protruding from a square shaped port was a baseball sized metal cube. Six grabbed it and held it up to look at it. It wasn't anything special. Just a metal box.

Suddenly, the cube separated into four pieces, revealing a green glowing item.

The cube was simply a sheathe. This was the true Index.

Six began looking closer into it when suddenly, it wasn't in his hand anymore. Guilty Spark had picked it up and stored it inside of himself.

"Protocol requires that I take possession of the Index for transport. Your organic form renders you vulnerable to infection." Guilty Spark said. "The Index must not fall into the hands of the Flood, before we reach the Control Room and activate the installation."

Six looked at where the Index had been in his hand for a moment, then back at Guilty Spark. "Yeah. Yeah, of course..." Six said.

Guilty Spark lit up brighter. "Oh my! Large numbers of Flood combat forms are converging on this location. The Index can not fall into Flood hands!" He said. "Hurry, Reclaimers!"

He flew out of the room at high speed, and the Spartans followed.

There was something mysterious about the Index. Why would the Flood want it if they could spread the infection through contact? And why the hell was carrying around a cube full of the known universe's deadliest infection the most important part about this mission? Six didn't trust Guilty Spark, not by a long shot, and he wasn't sure if John trusted the little flying menace, either. One thing was certain, though.

Guilty Spark had slipped up earlier, before they had killed the Goliath. He said that the Flood would be defeated once more. If the Flood had already been defeated in the past, then why was there no proof of it ever happening?

And who defeated them?

* * *

**The Flood Goliath is a creature of my own design. I always thought that the scrapping of the plans for the Leviathan in Halo 2 was a mistake on Bungie's part, and that a large and imposing Flood foe would be nice to battle. However, I know another Halo writer who used the Leviathan in her fanfic, and I just didn't want to be a copycat. Thus the Goliath was born. **

**So yeah, imagine a fifteen foot tall hulking Hunter Combat form with seven foot swords for arms.**

**~Husky**


	28. Sudden Betrayal

**I have so much love for you guys.**

**For a couple of the reviews I've gotten for last chapter, a few of you pointed out some things to me which you thought were important.**

**Notice that in the first chapter of the story, I told you to do exactly that.**

**Hunters Cannot get infected. I'm not entirely sure if I'm getting the spelling right, but their species, Leckgo or Lickgo or something similar, are not one being, therefore not one host, so it is not possible for them to be infected. ****I'm still going to keep the Goliath in the story, though, if not with too much logic then with badassery. **

**Firebomb/Incendiary Grenades were not in the first Halo. I ****am aware of this. However, I personally think that it is awesome to burn things to death with those things, and since they were only in Halo 3 and MAYBE Halo 2 (I honestly can't remember), there really isn't much proof that they didn't exist yet, as weapons from Halo: Reach, armor abilities, and a Vehicle or two off of the top of my head don't exist in CE, and Reach is obviously the prequel, as you all know.**

**Regardless, I love you guys for noticing little details like those, and it warms my heart. But, honestly, if both of those items create a goddamn badass fight between two several hundred pound super soldiers and a six metric-ton parasite with swords for hands, and you guys enjoy it, then I don't see why I shouldn't.**

**Anyways, future Husky from when I wake up is writing the story, not the one who's writing this part. It's 6:30 in the morning, I need my sleep. Think of this like Husky from the past.**

**Whoa.**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**

* * *

"...which means that any organism of sufficient mass and cognitive capability is a potential vector." Guilty Spark said. He had teleported the two Spartans and himself out of the room and back to Halo's control center, where John and Six were before they had gone underground.

"So animals, plants... everything can be infected?" Six asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Guilty Spark replied.

John stopped walking for a moment, raising his hand to his head. Something flashed across Six's visor, but he didn't have a chance to see what it was, as it moved too fast.

Guilty Spark turned to look at John. "Is there something wrong, Reclaimer?"

John shook his head and lowered his hand back to his side. "No... Nothing." He said.

"Splendid. Shall we?" Guilty Spark said, floating towards the terminal in which the Index was to be inserted. "Unfortunately, my usefulness to this particular endeavor has come to an end. Protocol does not allow units with my classification to... perform a task as important as the reunification of the Index with the Core. That final step is reserved for one of you."

Guilty Spark released the Index back into its sheathe.

"You want to do the honors, John?" Six asked.

"Sure. If you're offering, I don't see why not." John replied.

John took the Index's sheathe, now with the Index inside, out of Six's hand and slipped it into the socket on the control console. He stepped back as the console started to light up, and a loud whirring sound emanated from deep below.

But, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

"Oh. That's... odd. That wasn't supposed to happen." Guilty Spark said.

Cortana's avatar popped up over the console. "Oh, really?!" She shouted at Guilty Spark. She raised her hand, and he fell to the ground.

"Cortana!" John said, surprised.

"I've spent the last 12 hours cooped up in here, watching you toady about, helping that thing get set to slit our throats!" Cortana yelled.

"Hold your horses, Cortana. This thing is friendly." Six said, pointing to Guilty Spark.

"Oh! I didn't realize. He's your _pal_, is he? Your _chum_? Do you have any idea what that _bastard_ almost made you do?!" Cortana asked angrily.

"Yes, we do. We were going to activate Halo's defenses, and destroy the Flood, which is why we brought the Index to the control center." John said.

"You mean this?!" Cortana asked. She raised her hand and a hologram of the Index appeared in it.

"This... this is outrageous!" Guilty Spark said. "Why is there a human construct in-

"Sod off!" Cortana said, cutting him off.

"Why you little... what impertinence! I have no choice but to purge you at once!" Guilty Spark said.

"Do you honestly think that's a good idea?" Cortana said. The Index's sheathe opened up and the Index went into her, much like it had went into Guilty Spark earlier.

Guilty Spark turned red. "_Damn you! Why, I'll... I'll..._"

"Do what? I have the Index! You can just float and sputter!" Cortana retorted.

"Enough! The Flood is spreading. If we activate Halo's defenses, we can wipe them out."

"But don't you understand? The Installation doesn't kill the Flood!" Cortana yelled.

"Then what does it do?" John asked.

"It kills the Flood's _food_!" She said.

The statement blew Six off of his feet. "What!?"

"We're all equally edible. Human, Covenant, it doesn't matter. The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do; Wipe the galaxy clean of _all_ sentient life. And if you don't believe me, ask him!" Cortana yelled, pointing at Guilty Spark, who was as mad as could be.

"Is this true?" John asked Guilty Spark.

He sighed, slowly turning blue again. "More or less."

"You little son of a bitch!" Six shouted, raising his magnum.

"There is no need for fighting, Reclaimer." Guilty Spark said. "We have followed outbreak containment procedure to the letter. You were both with me each step of the way as we managed this crisis."

"But you decided to leave out the little detail that once we activated the damn thing, every living organism would get disintegrated!?" Six shot back.

"Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood. But you knew that already, did you not?"

"No, we didn't!" John said.

"Uh, Chief? I'm picking up movement above us!" Cortana said.

Suddenly, an orange laser shot down from the ceiling and hit the magnum out of Six's hand. He clutched his good hand in pain as several of the robots from the forest floated down to Guilty Spark's side. "John! Grab Cortana!" Six yelled.

John yanked the chip from the console and inserted it into the back of his helmet.

"We need to leave!" John said.

"But you cannot leave. Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done?" Guilty Spark asked. "Last time, you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed."

"What are you talking about?!" Six asked.

"Forget it, Six. We need to leave! Now!" John said.

"Fine. If you are unwilling to help, I will simply find another." Guilty Spark said. "Still, I must have the Index. Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to take her from you."

John stepped forward. "Sorry. That isn't going to happen." He said.

"Tsk, tsk. A pity." Guilty Spark said. "Save the green one's head..."

_...Dispose of the other one._"

* * *

**What a bundle of joy that Guilty Spark is.**

**I have a forum up on the story now, by the way. Put this after the dot net part of the url:**

**myforums/RichardHusky/5637288/**

**Have a great day, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	29. The Shutdown

"Dispose of me, will you?!" Six yelled. He pulled his DMR from his back and began firing upon the robots. John did as well, gunning down two of them. There were at least seven more left, but they thankfully weren't all that bright. Not only that, but they were slow, and moved around at walking speed. One of the orange beams hit Six's shoulder, burning him again.

"Don't let the beams touch you!" Six yelled to John.

They fired on the robots for about thirty more seconds before the last one fell to the ground. Six walked up to a nearby bot and stomped on it. The beam detatched from the robot and shot a short burst of the laser at Six's foot. He raised it just in time, but this gave him an idea.

As Six rummaged through the bot's shell, Cortana was thinking about what their next move would be.

"We have to destroy the installation." John said. "Or at the very least, disable it."

"The Chief is right. If this ring were to be activated..."

No one needed to continue. It was out in the open.

"According to my analysis of the available data, I believe the best course of action is somewhat... risky." Cortana said.

"Risky is better than no plan. Let's hear it." Six said.

"An explosion of sufficient size will help destabilize the ring, and will cut through a number of primary systems. We need to trigger a detonation on a large scale. A star ship's fusion reactors going critical would do the job." She said. "I'm going to search what's left of the Covenant battlenet and see if I can locate the _Pillar of Autumn_'s crash site. If the ship's fusion reactors are still relatively intact, we can use them to destroy Halo."

"Hey, if it stops that pint-sized terror ball from destroying all sentient life, then you can count me in." Six said.

"Me too." John replied.

After a short period of silence, there was the sound of another beam shot. John whipped towards Six.

"Aha!" Six said. "I did it!"

"You did what, exactly?" John asked.

Six turned and raised one of the robot's beams. "I found out how to shoot it manually. You just have to pull back this thingy. See?" He said, firing it into the wall. "I think this is going to get interesting. Cortana, how goes the search?"

"I haven't located the crash site yet but we need to buy some time, in case the Monitor or his Sentinels find a way to activate Halo's final weapon without the Index." Cortana said. "The machinery in these canyons are Halo's primary firing mechanisms. They consist of three phase pulse generators that amplify Halo's signal, and allow it to fire deep into space. The power levels are enormous. So, if we damage or destroy these generators, the Monitor will need to repair them before Halo can be used. That should buy us some time. We need to move in and neutralize the device."

"Sounds simple enough. Where to, Cortana?" Six asked.

"Right... here." She said, marking a spot on their maps. "I just hope that we can get to all of them before..."

"We will. That's a promise." John said.

* * *

The two Spartans were getting closer to their target, as they had found a pair of Banshees outside of the control center. Any second, and they would be right on top of it.

Six found the piloting of Covenant vehicles to be more difficult than UNSC vehicles, as the strange layouts and oddly shaped controls confused him. A Banshee wasn't dissimilar from a UNSC class Hornet, however, and Six got a grip on the controls quickly.

"You should be arriving at the structure which contains the pulse core now." Cortana said. The two Spartans touched down and got out of the Banshees. Six walked up to the structure with John close behind. When they got inside, they were greeted by a large, four pronged generator with crackling electricity bouncing in between the four pieces.

"How are we going to overload this thing, exactly? I don't see a terminal anywhere." Six said.

"Simple. While you were flying here, I tinkered with John's shields so that they'll deliver an EMP burst to disrupt the generator. You will need to walk into the beam to trigger it." Cortana replied.

"Alright." John said. He walked forwards into the middle, and electricity crackled around him. His shields disabled as the core powered down, sending an electric pulse around the room.

"Holy cow, it worked." Six said.

"I'm not too surprised." John said.

"The generator's central core is offline. Well done." Cortana said. As they ran back outside to the Banshees, Six felt a little bit different. He wasn't sure why at first, but then it hit him.

"Uh, Cortana?" He asked.

"Yes, Six?" She replied.

"I can't move my arm." He said.

"Oh, of course! The EMP must have affected your prosthetic." Cortana said. "I should have seen that coming. Here, let me reboot it."

A few seconds later, his arm whirred. He tried to move it, and it worked.

"Alright! I got a little worried for a minute." Six said. "Let's go shut the rest of those things down."

"The next one is about a click that way." Cortana said, putting another marker on the Spartans' HUDs.

The two Spartans got into their Banshees and flew off towards the next destination. If the rest of these generators were just as easy to take down as the first...

Well, Guilty Spark didn't have a chance.

* * *

**Sorry for the immensely short chapter. It was also pretty boring, but there's almost no way that I can make that part interesting.**

**Regardless, I'm going to a Birthday party tomorrow, and I am not going to update unless I can get a hold of my friend's tablet. I'm sleeping there, too, so I might not update until even Sunday afternoon. Bah, I've gone for 10+ days without updating before, I'm sure you'll all live.**

**Have a good day/night, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	30. Reconciliation

"Two down." John said to Six, walking out of the small base that housed one of the three pulse generators that were used to help fire Halo. His Shields were regenerating as he walked outside, as the EMP blast had knocked them out.

Six had to wait outside of the base this time, due to his prosthetic malfunctioning from the EMP. Cortana had been able to reboot it in just a few seconds, but it was... inconvenient.

"I've located the _Pillar of Autumn_." Cortana said.

"Good." John said simply.

"Its put down twelve-hundred kilometers up spin. Energy readings show her fusion reactors are still powered up. The systems on the _Pillar of Autumn_ have fail safes that even I can't override, without authorization from the Captain. We'll need to find him or his neural implants to start the fusion core detonation."

"Well, I hope we don't find only his implants." Six said.

"I agree. That would be bad." Cortana replied. "There is a tunnel in this part of the canyon that leads to the next section. The final pulse generator we need to destroy is through there. I'm marking it on your HUDs now."

A little blip popped up on Six's visor, to his left. The cave was a pretty tight fit, meaning that there probably wasn't a good chance that they could fly the Banshees through.

"I think we're going to have to run there." Six said.

"No time." John replied. "Cortana, are there any vehicles nearby? A warthog, maybe?"

"Scanning..." She said. "I found a single Mongoose that isn't in bad shape behind the base. I would take that."

"That's fine," Six said. "But I'm driving."

* * *

Six rushed the ATV through the cave, John standing in the back. They reached the end of the tunnel, and were greeted by the sight of the structure that housed the third and final pulse generator.

"You go in. I'll stay out here, in case something goes wrong that isn't on your end." Six said.

John walked into the structure. Six leaned against the wall with his DMR in hand. John was a great guy, and a damn good person to trust with his back. Six almost trusted him as much as...

No. Not as much as Jorge.

Not yet.

Something up on the ridge caught Six's attention, and he strained to look at it. He raised his DMR and looked through the scope, trying to get a better view.

It was a single Covenant Jackal. It shot him in the shoulder with its beam rifle, knocking Six sideways on to the ground. He crawled for a rock as cover and turned his radio on. More shots were fired into the rock, obviously by multiple snipers.

"John, There are Covenant out here! Disable the generator and move your ass!" Six said.

Six recieved nothing but radio silence in return. Of course! The EMP likely disabled John's radio, too. Hopefully he could hear the gunfire and was hauling his way out of there quickly. Several more beam rifle shots hit the rock, then they all stopped at once.

They started again, but this time, they weren't shooting at Six. He peered over the rock.

Flood combat forms were trying to get to the top of the ridge to the Covenant and were running aimlessly throughout the canyon. One caught Six's stare and ran at him, screaming. A spray of bullets hit it in the chest and it collapsed to the ground. Six looked over. John was standing in the structure's doorway, assault rifle smoking from the barrel.

"I was wondering when you would get back." Six said to John, both firing at distant Flood forms. Six was blowing off limbs and heads with every bullet, and John was spraying down the crowd. Another beam rifle shot fired and hit Six's leg. He cringed, aimed up towards the ridge and fired two shots into the Jackal that had shot him, killing it.

"Where do we go from here, Cortana?" John asked, still shooting.

"We need to find Keyes. He's our only way of rendering the installation inoperable, otherwise this little generator shutdown mission will have been an absolute waste of time." She replied.

"Then let's get into the Mongoose and get to him, fast." John replied.

"Absolutely not. That will take too long." Cortana said

"Then what's the plan?" Six asked.

"There's a teleportation grid that runs throughout Halo. That's how the Monitor moves about so quickly." Cortana said. "I learned how to tap into the grid when I was in the Control Center. Unfortunately, each jump requires a rather... consequential expenditure of energy."

"Something tells me I'm not going to like this at all." John said.

"I'm pretty sure I can take the needed energy from your suits without permanently damaging either of your shields. Needless to say, I think we should only try this once." She said.

"Do it." Six said.

"Okay. Just give me a second..."

More Flood forms began to notice them.

"Cortana, is there any chance that you could work just a little bit faster?" Six asked.

"There. Finished." She said.

The air around them rippled, and they were transported away, just in time.

* * *

They were teleported inside of the _Truth and Reconciliation_, but there was something odd about the room around them, and Six couldn't put his finger on it.

Then it hit him. It was the floor.

Literally.

Six and John fell on their heads and hit the ground hard. Cortana had teleported them into the battlecruiser upside down. As they got up, Cortana sounded a bit embarrassed.

"Um... Oh... I see, the coordinate data needed to be-"

John whacked the side of his helmet.

"Right. Sorry." She said.

"You're fine. We were just... surprised... that the ceiling wasn't the ceiling." Six said, cracking his back and neck.

"I've got a good lock on Captain Keyes' CNI transponder signal! He's alive! And the implants are intact! There's some interference from the cruiser's damaged reactor. I'll bring us in as close as I can." Cortana said.

After a minute or two of walking, Six asked Cortana if she could hear anything.

"Not from Keyes yet, but the Covenant network is in absolute chaos! From what I've been able to piece together, their leadership ordered all ships to abandon Halo when they found the Flood, but they were too late. The Flood overwhelmed this cruiser and disabled it. The Covenant are terrified the Flood will repair the ship and use it to escape from Halo. They've sent in a strike team to neutralize the Flood and repair the ship for immediate departure."

The two Spartans walked another few feet.

"Chief... Six... Don't be fools...Leave me..." Someone said.

"That was Keyes." Six said.

"Captain? Captain?!" Cortana asked, trying to respond to Keyes. "Dammit! I've lost him."

"If we keep going, I'm sure we'll find him eventually." Six said. "Come on. Let's move."

Despite the confidence in his voice, something felt off about this situation. Sure, it wasn't exactly the usual mission, but something told him that this wasn't going to end the way that they wanted it to.

* * *

**AGHHH.**

**So many reviewers and viewers (and by that I mean like three) are super halo experts and keep pointing out tiny details. Small corrections here, an error fix there, missing words, yadda yadda.**

**Why do I bring this up?**

**Well, I'm not even going to hide how stupid this sounds, but I just remembered that this is fanfiction. I can write whatever I want as long as I justify it and the facts that shouldn't be tampered with aren't tampered with. I'm not using that as an excuse for my errors, but as an opportunity to put a spin on this story that isn't made by Bungie. So I changed chapters three and four quite a bit. If you don't want to go back and read them, I won't force you to, but, please, I recommend it. The significance of those chapters will resurface when I move on to Halo 2 in this fanfic.**

**Either way, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. If you've played through the game before, you know what happens next.**

**:(**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	31. Keyes

"Long drop." Six said, looking down a pit sitting in the middle of the doorway. The door was the easiest way that they could progress, so, naturally, it was blocked off. "Think we could make the jump?" He asked John.

"Maybe." He replied. "Its far. Maybe too far."

"I'm with the Chief on this one. We're better off just finding a way around it. This hole was caused by some kind of explosive. Very powerful if it tore through a ship's hull. All I detect down there are pools of coolant."

"Right. We should turn back, then." Six said.

As they walked back, a singular Flood parasite dropped from a hole in the ceiling. Six sped up his pace and kicked it like a soccer ball directly into the wall. Alone, those tiny little things had nothing on the two Spartans. They were really only dangerous when they grouped together.

Six walked up to the door that they had come through and pressed a button, intending to open it up. The door strained to open, but didn't.

Six tried again. It refused to open. "Great. Is it stuck, or-"

"Six, watch out!" Cortana yelled. Six froze.

He stopped because of the two feet of sword that penetrated the solid metal doors and touched his chest lightly. He stayed there stunned as the blade pushed forward further, causing him to back up slightly. It pushed forward another three feet, but Six had anticipated the sudden thrust and he rolled backwards, the tip of the sword scraping a bit of the dark steel finish off of his boot. He landed with one hand on the floor, both feet down. The blade slashed upwards, ripping the door in two. It was suddenly caved in by an obviously powerful force. Each half of the door flew in either direction, the right half flying directly at John. He swatted it out of the way with brute strength and pulled out his energy sword. Six was on the other side of the room.

"Goliath!" Six yelled. He checked his belt for any firebomb grenades, but he had none.

John looked surprised. "More are coming!"

He wasn't wrong. Quite a few Flood combat forms were making their way down the hallway behind the Goliath, whom was shaping itself to fit through the doorway.

"Cortana, we need a way out!" Six said.

"You can always jump into the coolant." She replied. "You would most likely survive."

"We can take them if we concentrate." John said, raising his assault rifle to fire on the Flood forms. It didn't last long. The Goliath regained its form and charged him. John dodged the charge, but wasn't expecting the monster to flourish and dual blade-flat slam him directly in the face.

"John!" Cortana and Six both yelled at the same time. John flew across the room and slammed his back against the floor. He rolled towards the pit and fell in. Six rushed to the edge of the pit and looked over the side. John was clinging to an iron support rod sticking out of the floor. His visor had a small crack in it. Six was about to reach out to John, but John objected before he could.

"Don't bother! Just jump!" He yelled, letting go of the rod and falling into the blackness below.

Six looked down into the pit and back at the Flood, whom were almost upon him. He backed up to the edge of the pit and gave them all the finger, then fell backwards into the abyss.

A few seconds passed.

A cold sensation engulfed him. He was under. He swam for the top.

A hand went into the coolant. Six grabbed it.

He was pulled to the top by John. "You alright, man? I don't think you concentrated enough." Six asked him.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. We have bigger problems. We need to find a way out of here." John replied. Six looked around them. This section of the ship was wrecked and torn, with reactor fluid spilled everywhere.

"In the usual CSS-Class Battlecruiser, there are gravity lifts on this level. Hopefully, they're still operational." Cortana said.

"Then I guess that's our best bet." Six said. "Come on, John."

"Right behind you." He replied.

* * *

They ended up finding the gravity lifts. Six and John shot up into the air and on to the next floor.

"We should be able to get into the ship's control room from here." Cortana said. After a pause, she groaned. "The Covenant Battlenet is a mess. I can't access the ship's schematics. My records indicate that a shuttle bay should be... here." She said, marking the Spartans' HUDs.

After a brief walk to the nav point, they reached a cracking metal door, rusty from the coolant. Six waded through the knee high coolant fluid and quite literally kicked the door in, full force. The coolant spilled on to the floor in the room ahead of them and rusty metal changed on the ground.

The doorway did, in fact, lead to a shuttle bay. It was rather small for holding a Covenant armada, but still vast. In the corners lie bodies of Sangheili and Unggoy. For at least two minutes straight, they speedwalked in silence to the other end of the bay. When they reached it and opened the door, Cortana caught Keyes' transmission again.

"I... gave you an order, soldier! Now pull out!" Keyes said, coughing.

"He's delirious! In pain! We have to find him!" Cortana said worryingly. "The control room should be just through here."

"Hang on, Captain." Six said under his breath. They ran off through the door ahead.

* * *

By the time that they had gotten near the control room, Keyes was screaming in pain. "Ohhhh gaahhhhh... Hrhh! Aghhh!"

"Hurry, you two!" Cortana yelled. "His vitals are fading!"

They reached the control room doors, and Six pushed the button to open it. It didn't work. Frustrated, Six banged on the door. He stuck his hands under the door and began to lift, pulling the door up only slightly. John stepped up and began to lift, too. Together, they just barely pried the door open, needing to crouch to get through. Six went first. When he stood, he tensed up, frozen.

John followed shortly after, and was equally as stunned as Six.

Mounted on the wall was an enormous mass of Flood tissue, and what looked like mangled human bodies. There were hands, legs, torsos and...

...faces.

Six walked closer, slowly. When he got up close, something dawned on him.

And then it hit him like a punch in the stomach.

Among the faces, the torn up and reconnected limbs and all of the Flood biomass was Captain Jacob Keyes, hung on the front like a puppet.

"...Oh my _god_..." Six said. "I..."

"No human life-signs detected." Cortana said, horrified. "The Captain... he's one of... them."

Everything was silent, as if time itself stopped.

John stood there with not one thought going through his head. He couldn't even think.

"We can't let the Flood get off this ring!" Cortana piped up. "You know what he'd expect, Chief... What he'd _want_ us to do."

John stood there for a moment, not moving. He swallowed his emotions, then stepped forward.

"What-" Six said, but stopped, realizing what John had to do. He had seen so much death so far in his life, but this was one man that he didn't need to see as really truly dead. He turned around.

There was a cracking sound, along with several squishing noises. After a moment, the sounds stopped. Six looked back and saw John shaking brain matter from Keyes' neural implant chip.

"Hold on to this, Six, will you?" John asked. He handed the chip to Six.

Six took it.

He just stared at the chip for a moment. He flipped it over once or twice, then clutched it tightly in his hand. He was going to keep it safe. He stuck it into the slot on his arm.

"I'll begin the data transfer." Cortana said, hollow. A few moments later, she finished. "Transfer complete. Let's... get out of here."

They crouched back under the door and got to the other side. After a few steps, Six stopped. He turned around and stomped the bottom edge of the door as hard as he could, easily knocking it back down.

He was angry.

"We need to blow this ring." Six said, speeding up to John.

"For the Captain." John agreed.

They reached the shuttle bay and checked for operating vehicles. A loud clattering emanated from the vents above. Six raised his DMR to the ceiling, and hundreds of Flood parasites spilled from the furthest vent on the other side of the room. A door opened on their side, and several Sangheili spec ops soldiers emerged from the opening. But something was wrong with the way that these particular Sangheili were outfitted. They wore grey armor instead of the Covenant's usual blue or red, and they were wearing tattered red and black garments on their shoulders and around their necks. The Sangheili noticed the Spartans, but instead turned their attention to the Flood and attacking the immediate threat. While they clashed, John found a small group of four Banshees that were all ready for takeoff.

"John, is it me, or do those Sangheili seem... different?" Six asked.

"They do look odd, but there isn't time to dwell on it, Six. Come on." John said.

"Wait a minute, I've seen..." Six said. "Never mind."

Six ran over to the Banshees and got into one. John took off with Six at his side.

Keyes was dead, Guilty Spark was insane, and Six was having a serious case of deja vu. They needed to hurry, or else they might be too late to stop the Monitor from firing the gun pointed at the head of the universe.

* * *

**First day of school for me was today. So far, Sophomore year sucks. I wrote this from beginning to end as soon as I got home.**

**Sorry that it was sad and everything, but, sometimes, you can't bend the rules.**

**Have a good day, Wolfgang.**

**~Husky**


	32. Hail the Enclave

**WARNING**

**There is a shitting fuckton of swearing in this chapter, bitches.**

* * *

_The Pillar of Autumn _lay in the sand, leaning a bit less that halfway off of a cliff. It's exterior was burnt and warped in places, but a majority of the ship was still relatively intact. Off of the horizon, Noble Six and John-117's Banshees' engines were failing.

"These things are falling apart!" Cortana said.

"You're telling us!" Six replied.

"They'll hold." John said.

"We aren't going to make it!" Cortana yelled. "Pull up!"

"We'll make it." John said calmly.

They were speeding towards the escape pod bay. Six's Banshee began to lower.

"Come on..." He said. He activated the boosters and shot forward. Within a few seconds, his Banshee stopped flying completely and crashed down hard on to the floor of the bay. It scraped across the floor for at least a dozen feet before stopping. Six got out of his Banshee and looked out of the bay door towards John, but his Banshee wasn't doing as hot.

"My boosters aren't working!" John said.

"Pull up, dammit!" Cortana yelled.

"I'm trying!" He said. John pulled up as far as he could, but he was still short. He exited the Banshee and jumped off of the windshield to the bay. He barely had a grip on the edge until Six grabbed his other hand. He pulled John up.

"Thanks, Six. I owe you one." John said.

"I..." Six said. Those were Jun's last words before he died. "Don't mention it."

"We need to get to the bridge. From there, we can use the Captain's neural implants to initiate an overload of the ship's fusion engines. The explosion should damage enough systems below it to destroy the ring." Cortana said.

"We should lay low until we get there." Six said. "I'm not sure if he communicates with his Sentinels, but we don't need Guilty Spark knowing that we're back to destroy the ring."

From afar, Six could hear the sounds of Sentinels firing their lasers at what was probably Flood forms. He reached to his right side for the sentinel beam that he snapped off of one of them back at the Halo's control center. From the EMPing, being soaked in coolant and just general combat, he hoped that it still worked.

They advanced quietly and quickly, careful not to make a sound.

* * *

After a short while, the familiar hallways and rooms of the _Autumn_ were recognized by Six, and from there, he led the way to the bridge.

When they finally got there, the doors were already open. "Nice to see a door that isn't stuck, for once." Six said.

"We made it. Let's get to work." Cortana said. John pulled her chip from his helmet as they walked into the bridge. As soon as they entered, Six pushed John back.

"What?... Oh." John said.

There were three of the same Sangheili from the _Truth and Reconciliation_, the ones with the rags and strange armor. They appeared to be rooting around in the data inside of the internal memory storage. Either that, or struggling to get past one of the system's many firewalls. One sat at a terminal nearby the door, and the other two were on the other side.

"Who the hell are these Sangheili? I saw a bunch of these guys on Reach, but I don't think that they're Covenant. They're... something else." Six said.

"I don't have any files on them, but, whoever they are, we need to stop them. If they gather data on any Human technology, whoever they work for will know the UNSC's weaknesses." Cortana said.

"Let's blast 'em," Six said angrily. "And figure out who they work for later."

The two Spartans walked into the room and raised their guns, ready to fire. A Sangheili noticed them enter and scrambled for his gun, but Six shot his hand and kicked him into the guard rail. The others quickly turned to fire upon them, but were shot and stabbed by John before they could fire. The Elite that Six had kicked was now back up, and tried to jump on Six. He grabbed the Sangheili's arms and flipped him forward, knocking the wind out of him. Six grabbed his head and held it in place on the floor with brute strength. John walked over to him.

"Who do you work for?" Six said aggressively.

"Stupid... Demon." The Sangheili said, out of breath. "I will not ever tell."

"I'll give you one more chance to answer my question before I start hurting you." Six growled.

The Sangheili chuckled. "What was the question, again?" It said cheekily.

Six pulled out his combat knife and stabbed it directly into the Sangheili's arm. It screamed in agony, clenching its first and breathing heavily.

"I've seen your little comrades on Reach, and on the _Truth and Reconciliation_! While me and my friend ran for our fucking lives, your people gunned him down like a god damn dog and tried to send me down with him!" Six said intensely, raising his voice. "So I'll ask you one more time, you _useless shitbag_!" He continued menacingly, twisting the blade, causing the Sangheili to cry out in further agony. "Who are you, and _who the fuck do you work for?!_"

The Sangheili breathed heavily, obviously in extreme pain. "Riok ni' jinohag thugra, Klaka zzi." It raggedly spat out. _You don't deserve to wear that armor, humans. _"You are not warriors. Merely... obstacles! You and your kind will be punished!"

"The Covenant can't punish the Human race if we run them out of our galaxy." Six snarled, pulling out the knife from its arm and raising it to the Sangheili's throat. "Now speak, _asshole_."

The Sangheili chuckled at Six. "You truly believe that we are of the Covenant? Believe whatever you'd like. The Covenant are mindless beasts, and their goals mean nothing to us."

"Do I _really _have to fucking ask again?" Six said, pushing the knife further towards the Sangheili, drawing blood.

Once again, the Sangheili laughed. Suddenly, its face went deadpan.

"Hail the Enclave." It said.

_The what?_

The Sangheili kicked Six off with immense strength and stripped the knife from his hand. Six looked up, and the next thing that he saw was his own knife flying through the air towards his face. Six drew his magnum and stood up, but instead of hitting his face, the blade planted itself down to the hilt in his stomach, breaking his shield. Six fell back into the guard rail mid-shot and missed the Sangheili's head by at most a centimeter.

"Six!" John yelled as Six slid into a sitting position, clutching his stomach with one hand and aiming unsteadily with the other.

John rushed the Sangheili with his energy sword as it drew its wrist blades. John brought the sword down in an arc towards the Elite's head. It crossed its blades to stop the attack, but the power in his strike sliced through the metal, staggering them both. John recovered first, and drove the sword into its chest.

"We... Will..." The Sangheili choked out.

"...Die." John finished, ripping the blade out of it. He pushed the Sangheili over the guard rail and a second later it hit the floor with a thump.

John ran to Six side. He had dropped his pistol next to him and had both hands hovering around the hilt of the knife, still startled. He was breathing shakily and his heart was racing, blood spilling down his armor.

"Hrghh... uhh..." Six groaned, grabbing the hilt of the knife. He pulled on it, but the pain was intense. He had no idea how Emile stood an energy sword to the back if he couldn't take a four inch knife to the stomach.

"Hold still, Six. I'm going to pull the knife out."

"No!" Six said. "No, I think I'm fine. Really."

"If we don't take that thing out of you, you're going to bleed to death."

"I will either way." Six said.

"Fine. Whatever you say, "Sir"." John said sarcastically. As soon as Six looked away, John grabbed the knife and pulled it out as quickly as he could.

"Holy mother of fffff-" Six said, holding back the pain. "Oh, god _dammit_ John!"

"Can you stand?" John asked.

"Don't... worry... about me. We have... bigger fish to fry." Six replied. Putting pressure on his wound made it hurt even more, but it needed to happen. "Put Cortana... into the terminal."

John stood up and put Cortana's chip into the terminal to their left. She had not been aware of what had just happened, as she had been out of John's helmet for the duration of the fight. As her avatar popped up, she greeted John, but didn't see Six.

"Where..." She asked. She noticed him slumped against the guard rail and put her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god. Six, are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm just dandy." He responded, raising a bloodsoaked hand.

"Chief, he needs medical attention." Cortana said. "There are a few med-kits around the bridge. Get him to one while I try and work my way back in here."

John lifted Six up and supported his shaky footsteps.

"There's a kit... at the bottom of the stairs." Six said.

"Stay here." John said. He ran down the stairs and detatched the pack from the wall. He ran back up, and kneeled next to Six.

"John, did I ever tell you... how I got here?" Six asked.

"Stay quiet. This is going to hurt." John said, grabbing a container of Medi-Gel.

"No, this is important." Six said.

John looked up at Six.

"When I was... six years old..." Six said. "...my neighborhood was carpet bombed by the Covenant." A tear filled Six's eye. "They killed my mom. I was sent me to an orphanage and separated me from my baby brother and sister because my dad didn't want the... responsibility... the ass. I was chosen to be a SPARTAN-III, but Halsey didn't even know that the program existed until she met me... and my team. Carter... Kat, Jun, Emile..." He said, wincing as John applied the gel. "... Jorge. And then there was me. Everyone else sacrificed themselves for the rest to survive... except for Jun. Those... Enclave fuckers shot him in the head while he was dangling... in my hands."

"... Jun was his name?" John asked. "The friend that you mentioned earlier that died?"

"...Yeah... the intelligent son of a bitch had a not so good plan. I lived, he didn't."

"..."

"..."

"...When you told me back underground that you went a little bit crazy for a while..." John said. "You weren't exaggerating at all. Were you?"

"I just stared at walls for most of the time." Six responded. "When I got to the _Autumn_, it all just... melted away. When I cleared that one entire room though... it all fucking came back. Everyone I lost just hit me like a punch in the jaw."

John stayed silent, not knowing what to say. "..."

"When I got back to where I belonged, I thought I would just forget. But I never forgot a single moment. Everything and everyone I've lost along the way is burned in my mind with a fucking branding iron." Six said. "But I can't remember my family's names."

"I don't remember mine. Period." John said. "I don't think about them either."

"I never wanted to be a Spartan." Six said.

"Neither did I, but they plucked me off of the street like a stray dog. I had no say in the matter." John countered. "You should be thankful that you had a choice."

"I wanted revenge. It was why I said yes. Everything that I've ever done since the day that they picked me up, I did for revenge against those wrinkled bastards. I've been waiting for a chance to make it feel like everyone I knew didn't die in vain. Maybe it won't be today. Or tomorrow. But one thing is for sure..." Six said, standing up with his newly applied bandages.

"I won't have to wait much longer." He said.

"..."

"Let's go see where Cortana is at." Six said, trying to change the subject. "Come on, John."

John stood there for a moment as Six walked back to the center of the bridge, and then followed behind him.

In the past, John had had it rough, there was no doubt. He had been kidnapped, killed people while training by accident with his strength, and been locked in cryogenic sleep for longer than he knew. But Six, and with everything that he had gone through...

John seemed like he was the lucky one.

* * *

**I'm not even going to try and lie, I think that this was the most fun chapter to write for this story so far. There are only a few more chapters until I'm finished with Combat Evolved, and, after what will likely be only a two week hiatus/relaxation from writing, I will start writing the events of Halo 2, should the want for more be ever so desired. Obviously, because this story is from Six's point of view, Thel 'Vadam/ee (AKA The Arbiter) may or may not have chapters focusing on only him (I'm still debating it).**

**Now, the Enclave are a group that I created. They may seem trivial at the moment, but trust me, they will be important soon. If I had a picture of one, I would show you guys and girls, but, for now, you'll just have to visualize. They hate the Covenant deeper than words can explain, and they don't have a liking for humanity, either...**

**...Although they aren't quite what they seem, themselves.**

**I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, because we're getting down to the wire!**

**Have a great day, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	33. Caught Red Handed

"I leave home for a few days, and look what happens." Cortana said, going through files. "This won't take long."

John was still thinking about his conversation with Six. It had only been at least minute since Six ended the talk, but his words were still ringing in John's head. Throughout this entire journey, he had looked at Six in the wrong light.

The man had almost nothing left to lose.

While Cortana finished with activating the overload, Six walked over to the knife that had been in his side. He picked it up and it back into its sheathe, not bothering to clean it. He looked back at John. John saw him looking, and returned his look.

The screen hanging in the middle of the bridge lit up bright. The two Spartans looked towards it, and were greeted with the sight of a thirty minute countdown clock.

"There. That should give us enough time to make it to a lifeboat and put some distance between ourselves and Halo before the detonation." Cortana said.

Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut. Six grabbed his pistol off of the ground and raised it, unsure of what to expect.

The communication system blared to life, and a very familiar voice spoke.

"I'm afraid that's out of the question, really." Guilty Spark said.

"Oh, hell." Cortana said.

"Not this asshole again." Six said.

"Ridiculous! That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge! Weren't you worried it might be captured? Or destroyed?" Guilty Spark said.

"He's in my data arrays, a local tap!" Cortana said.

"You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating." He said. "Oh, how I will enjoy every moment of its categorization! And to think that you would destroy this installation, as well as this record. I am _shocked_. Almost too shocked for words."

"And still you talk." Six said, annoyed.

"Tsk tsk... you are all pathetic beings." Guilty Spark responded.

The screen that displayed the countdown clock froze in place, stopping the timer.

"He stopped the self destruct sequence..." Cortana said.

"Why do you continue to fight us? You cannot win! Give us the construct, and I will endeavor to make your death relatively painless and-" Guilty Spark said, but was cut off. The intercom clicked off.

"At least I still have control over the communication systems." Cortana said.

"Where is that Christmas ornament?" Six asked.

"I'm detecting taps throughout the ship, Sentinels most likely. As for the Monitor... he's in Engineering. He must be trying to take the core offline! Even if I could get the countdown restarted ... I don't know what to do." Cortana said.

"How much would it take to crack one of the engine's shields?" John asked.

"Not much. A well placed grenade, maybe. But why..." She answered, turning towards John. He was casually tossing a frag grenade up and catching it, as if it were a baseball.

Cortana looked at John.

"Okay. I'm coming with you." She said.

As he was about to pull her chip out, Sentinels flooded in from above.

"Chief, watch out!" Cortana said. John looked behind him and was hit by a Sentinel beam, draining his shields. Six aimed his pistol with one hand and fired at them, shooting what looked important. John made a grab for Cortana's chip and put it back into his helmet, then began firing as well, bullets flying from the barrel.

The Sentinels were no match for the both of them. After a few minutes, the room was clear.

"Give me a second with these. I'll get them opened." Six said, putting his hands in between the doors. He pulled apart, slowly prying the metal apart. He pushed the doors to the sides, and he made an opening large enough for the both of them to walk through.

"Where is the engine room?" Six asked.

"The ship was heavily damaged when it crashed. Head to the cryochamber. We should be able to get to the engine room through there." Cortana said.

"Alright. Stay behind me." Six said.

"I can lead." John replied.

Six looked at John, then down at his bandages. "Yeah, that probably isn't a bad idea." He said.

John took point as they made their way down the hall.

Six followed John, magnum drawn. The wound in his side was better than before, but his bandages were getting soaked in blood. He was sure that he was fine for now, but until he found proper medical attention, he wasn't going to be good for much aside from his wise mouth. His vision was getting a little bit blurry from blood loss, so that would likely impair his aim slightly, but he had experienced much worse than this before. He heard rustling noises above him, and gunfire in the distance. If he listened closely, he could hear the sounds of Flood, Covenant and Sentinels fighting each other.

It was likely that they were going to come across quite a few of each on their way to the engine room.

* * *

"Watch your back!" John said, shooting an Enclave Sangheili that was creeping up on him. Six whipped around and fired at the Sangheili's head, his shaky hand making him miss his first shot. It dropped to the floor, Dead like the others. Six stumbled into the wall next to him, resting.

"Are you okay?" John asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little fuzzy, is all." Six replied. He put his hand to his side and grunted. The Medi-Gel wasn't stopping the bleeding as well as John thought. His once white bandages were now red. Six was beginning to feel a bit light headed, but he wasn't worried about that right now. They were a minute out from the cryochamber, maybe less. If they didn't deal with Guilty Spark, then the galaxy was doomed.

"If you say so. Just stay on your feet." John said, reaching his arm out. Six grabbed John's hand and stood up. They walked down the hall, Six leaning on John.

What Six neglected to tell John was that he was struggling to stay awake. He knew that if he became dead weight, then he would only slow them down. The pain of his knife wound kept his eyes open, but he didn't know how much longer that would last.

He only hoped that he wouldn't get them both killed.

* * *

**Hello, Wolfgang!**

**For the past week, I've been helping a very good friend of mine get started on FanFiction. His Pen Name is MrSweatyFupa, and he writes a Dark Souls story. I've been helping with editing, so you might be able to pick up on my style if you go to read it.**

**I've also posted a new story following the Dark Souls II storyline. Go check that out too, if that's your thing. Priority is my friend though, check his out first!**

**Have a great day, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	34. The Engine Room

**I know I haven't posted a chapter of this one in a few days, but I've been occupied with family matters (Which are now over and done with) and... erm...**

**Destiny.**

**I have no excuse for that second one.**

**Alrighty, folks! Ready your eyes and focus your minds! Happy reading!**

**~Husky**

* * *

"I'm out of ammo." Six said, the empty clip of his magnum dropping out of the bottom. John was running low on ammo as well. The two had been fighting through several groups of Sentinels, Flood and Enclave at a time, usually killing a few and leaving the rest to fight each other. Something about the Enclave made Six shudder, and it wasn't because of the dripping knife wound in his side.

"Cortana, can you find us some ammo?" John asked.

"Make your way to the Armory, its on the way to where we're going." Cortana replied.

This gave Six a moment of relief, and he sighed deeply. "Let's get there fast." He said.

As they walked in the direction of the Armory, Six started to get a pulsing headache. At first, he thought that it was going to be like in the swamp, and braced himself. But it felt somehow lighter than then. He tried to ignore it, but his head was pounding. Instead of stopping, like any reasonable person, he decided not to say anything and push onward. He had just enough energy to keep moving and shooting, but just enough was all that he had. There was no time to waste on trivial matters.

"We're here." John said. He opened the large double doors to reveal a room filled with green metal boxes used for storing UNSC weapons of all shapes and sizes.

Six walked steadily over to a green metal box and pulled the top off. Inside of the box was attaché padding and a well polished shotgun, along with a few frag grenades and several clips of magnum ammo. He grabbed the clips and loaded one into the magnum, putting the rest on his belt. He grabbed the shotgun against his better judgment, as his balance had been wavering slightly and he knew that the force of the shell could knock him on his ass if he wasn't careful. He decided to put it on his back for now, in case he needed it later. He pried open the box below it to reveal a jetpack and two firebomb grenades. He picked up the heavy jetpack and managed to attach it to his back, with a little help from John. He put the firebomb grenades on his belt, next to the frags, and checked how strong the jetpack was. It lifted him off of the ground by about a foot when he used it for even one second, no sweat. He checked to see if he still had the Sentinel beam on his waist. He did.

Good. He was saving it for a special occasion.

He decided to take it out and sit down, tinkering with it. Socially, he came off as a gruff person, but he knew his way around electronics as much as any well-trained technician. He took his bloodied knife out and put the blade in between a screwhead on the beam's right side, turning it counter-clockwise. He wrapped blue, light blue and black wires around the neck of the screw, then screwed it back in place.

If this thing did what he thought that it was going to do, then he would become much more useful.

"Are you ready?" John asked.

"Yeah. Let's go." Six said, grunting as he stood up. Before they left, he grabbed a pair of frag grenades for destabilizing the engine cores. He didn't even bother to look at his bandages, knowing that they were soaked red.

* * *

"Engine room located. We're here." Cortana said.

John walked into the engine room with Six close behind. Inside was, obviously, the engine, along with several cooling units and dozens of high-power batteries.

And, floating in the corner, was none other than 343 Guilty Spark.

"Hello, Reclaimers." He said snidely.

"Up yours, lightbulb." Six snarled.

"The Monitor has disabled all command access. We can't restart the countdown, so the only remaining option is to detonate the ship's fusion reactors. That should do enough damage to destroy Halo. Don't worry; I have access to all of the reactor schematics and procedures. I'll walk you through it."

"I wish that you wouldn't react so harshly. After all, what I'm trying to accomplish is for the good of your race." Guilty Spark said. "It is the only way to combat the Flood effectively, as you know."

They ignored him.

"Alright. I hope we don't mess something up." Six replied.

"Or blow something up." John added. "That comes later."

"First, you need to pull back the exhaust couplings. That will expose a shaft that leads to the primary fusion drive core." Cortana said.

Six and John kneeled by a large metal panel on the wall. John pulled the panel down, and several hundred wires and tubes were shown.

"Oh yeah, this'll be fun." Six joked.

"Just reach past all of the wiring. There should be a slot in the back." Cortana said.

"Your behavior necessitates repair and revision." Guilty Spark said, a tone of warning in his voice. "Surrender the construct to me, or I will be forced to take you offline. Permanently!"

Six pulled the shotgun from his back, his arms shaking, and aimed it at Guilty Spark. "You had better shut your goddamn mouth, before I put a hole in ya'."

He quieted down rather quickly, turning from blue to a faint pink.

John and Six both grabbed a side of the slot and pulled away from the middle, exposing the fusion core.

"Good! Step one complete! We have a straight shot into the fusion reactor!" Cortana said. "We need a catalyst explosion to destabilize the magnetic containment field surrounding the fusion cells. Use an explosive."

John pulled a grenade from his belt and looked at Six. "I'd stand clear if I were you."

"Right." Six replied. He slowly stood up, holding his side with his free hand and aiming his shotgun at Guilty Spark with the other. He backed up a few feet, then sat down. He was getting tired. So... tired...

He was startled back to full consciousness by the sound of the fusion core exploding, sending wires, sparks and flames shooting from the wall.

"Did that do it?" Six asked.

"Yes, it did! The engine's gone critical! Based on the current rate of decay, we should have fifteen minutes to get off the ship; we don't have much time!" Cortana replied. "We should move outside and signal for evac. There's a service lift at the top of the engine room. It leads to a class-7 service corridor that runs along the ship's dorsal structure. If we take that route, we're likely to make it out on time!"

"_Not if I'm to say anything about it!_" Guilty Spark said, the red light emanating from him giving off such heat that it could literally boil water.

Six stood up and raised his shotgun, a little more vigilant than he was a moment ago. "You're just asking for a facefull of buckshot!" He yelled.

"_You have much more to worry about than my words, Reclaimer._" Guilty Spark spat. His eye began glowing red.

"Do you think I care? You're just waiting for the right time... to hide, behind your Sentinels! You... are pathetic... just like your threats!"

"_Enough!_" Guilty Spark eye glowed as bright as the Sun. Six realized what was happening as it happened.

Guilty Spark fired a wide-radius laser directly at Six. It struck his left arm, disintegrating the artificial joints and wires of his prosthetic, melting off everything below the elbow and knocking him to the floor. John raised his assault rifle and began firing at Guilty Spark, but the bullets didn't seem to faze him in the slightest. He turned and fired another beam, this time at John, but John rolled to his left, so the beam only hit...

...The fusion core.

Fire and sparks spewed out with greater pressure and force than before, warping the metal edges of the giant panel with the heat of a dying star. What little was left of the fusion core detonated, sending firey shrapnel flying everywhere. Alarms started going off, the sound of a klaxon echoing throughout the ship.

Six started to get up, the explosions staggering him. John ran up to him, grabbing his good arm. "We need to get out of here. Now!" He said, pulling Six towards the room's entrance.

"Just leave me, dammit!" Six shouted. "I'm dead weight, and I'm bleeding out! I can't shoot, I can barely walk, and there's no point!"

"I'm not leaving here without you." John said.

"That's a fucking order, John! Go!" Six said.

John sighed. "With all due respect, Six," He said. "Screw your orders."

He didn't understand John's persistence. He wasn't likely going to make it. What with his stab wound and still profuse blood loss, coupled with the destruction of his prosthetic, it was going to be difficult to keep up.

But there was something inside him. Something that made him want to move on.

If he had been asked a week and a half ago, Six would have said that he had given up all hope of surviving. He would have said that he accepted his inevitable fate. But now, he felt different. He suddenly felt stupid for saying what he had just said to John.

He wanted to live.

"Oh, how touching." Guilty Spark said.

"John? Could you please close the door?" Six asked.

"Gladly." John replied. He closed the door using a keypad to his right, then smashed the keypad with the butt of his gun, trapping Guilty Spark inside.

As they advanced down the hall, they could hear the sounds of more lasers firing at various things in the engine room.

"Run, Reclaimers!

...Run for your lives!"

* * *

**Thanks for reading the penultimate chapter of the Halo: CE storyline! ****The Finale is coming. Expect the unexpected...**

**...And a ton of explosions.**

**I'll see you when we get there, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	35. A New Dawn

"Cortana to Echo 419, come in Echo 419!" Cortana said, the nervousness echoing through her voice. Six and John were, for lack of a better term, running for their lives, with the now nearly passed out Six leaning on John's shoulder. He was shuffling his feet as fast as he could, John practically dragging him a across the floor with all of his strength, and they weren't going fast enough, not to get out within fifteen minutes.

Six's vision was fuzzy, beyond even before. When Guilty Spark destroyed his prosthetic, the laser had cut down to the shoulder, inches away from what was still flesh and bone. Every thirty seconds or so, his eyes would close, and John had to pound him on the chest to wake him.

Right now, Six was seeing things. He had lost enough blood to the point that he was hallucinating. He turned his head to the left and saw Carter, Noble Team's Leader, dead on the floor. He inhaled sharply and looked around him. There were... things... hanging from the ceiling. Bodies. He recognized them to be of the rest of the team. Not only that, but dozens of marine corpses littered the floor, blood welling in the sides of the hallway. All of them were cut up, carved and bloody. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to block out the images, but he could only look away for so long. The pain in his side was pulsing, and the bleeding was slowing down, but the only thing that he was worried about were the dark thoughts echoing through his mind.

_It was my fault. All my fault._

_They hated me._

"Six! Six, snap out of it!" John said, pounding Six's chest hard. He opened his eyes. The bodies were gone. He kept his emotions at bay with some difficulty.

"You don't... have to hit... so hard." Six said.

"Yes I do." John said simply.

"Come in, Echo 419!" Cortana said again. This time, Echo 419, Foehammer, responded.

"Roger, Cortana. I read you, 5 by 5." Foehammer said.

"The _Pillar of Autumn_'s engines are going critical! Request immediate extraction! Approach the crash site and be ready to pick us up at external access Junction 4C as soon as you get my signal!" Cortana said.

"Affirmative. Echo 419 going on station." Foehammer replied.

Six tripped over his own foot and caught himself before landing face first. As John pulled him up, Spec-Ops Enclave rounded the corner at the end of the hall behind them and started firing.

"Not these guys again..." Six muttered, drawing his magnum. Even with his trembling hands and blurred vision, he still managed to hit most of them. John picked Six up, and Six's balance steadied.

"Are you good?" John asked, firing on the Enclave.

"I think... I think i'll be okay." Six replied, the heat of battle giving him something to focus on. His head was pounding, and his vision started flashing again. He continued to shoot, but trying to aim and concentrate on his shots made him feel like someone was putting a bullet through _his_ head. After a few moments, the pain subsided and the last Sangheili hit the ground, although the flashing in his eyes didn't stop. The walls felt like they were closing in around him, and he trembled as he turned back to John.

"Come on, there's an elevator up ahead." John said, putting his arm around Six. Six pushed it away.

"I can walk." Six said wearily. "Don't worry about me."

"Six, you're in critical condition. Let the Chief help." Cortana said.

"I'm fine... trust me." Six replied, louder this time.

They walked to the elevator, Six trailing behind John, and hit the button to lead them to the top floor. The elevator doors closed all of the way, surprisingly, and the two Spartans began the long ride up.

Six's head began to pound again. He closed his eyes and held his head with his arm. When he opened them, He saw something.

Something that he didn't expect to see. He was braced for graphic images, some sort of blood-and-guts filled vision, but this sight was far from it.

It was his family. Just the sight of them stunned him. The sight made his heart race and his legs ache. It brought him to emotional agony. He was so surprised that he nearly fainted, although that could have been from the blood loss. He blinked his eyes again, but just like that, they were gone.

The pain of his headache increased sharply, and something else happened. He remembered something. Just one little thing.

He pushed the thought out of his mind, but it crept back. It was stuck there. He was glad he remembered, but at the same time, he was appalled. Horrified, even.

"Six, are you okay?" John asked.

Six snapped out of his stupor, looking at his surroundings. He was sitting in the corner of the elevator, against the wall. he had been clutching his head and trembling, curled up like a child. His nose was bleeding.

"If... if we get out of here... I need to... talk to..." He said, the pain in his head making him lose focus.

"You mean _when_ we get out of here." John replied, pulling Six up. "Come on. We don't have much time left until this place is dust."

"Yeah... yeah, okay." Six replied.

But he decided to stay quiet. He didn't want to worry John or Cortana with his hallucinations, or his headache.

And he didn't tell them what he had remembered, either.

* * *

"Cortana, how much time do we have?" John asked, propping Six up on his shoulder once again. Six's sight had become less blurred than before, the vision shocking him so greatly that the mere thought of it kept him from succumbing to the always descending stupor that was falling on him. His hands weren't shaking as much, and the bleeding had stopped almost entirely, his body finally moving into action.

He still felt like shit, sure, but he felt a lot better.

"Analyzing..." Cortana said. "Judging by the state of the engine, we have about twelve... Wait..."

"What? What's wrong?" John asked.

"Dammit! Guilty Spark must have fried the engine room!" She said. "We have five minutes _at most_ before the fusion drives detonate. We need to evac, _now_!"

"Great." Six said.

"Try and find a vehicle, so we can get to Foehammer. In less than five minutes now, the engines will detonate, and the explosion will generate a temperature of almost 100,000,000 degrees. _Don't_ be here when it blows." Cortana said. "There are a few Warthogs stored in the vehicle bay up ahead. Grab one."

John and Six hurried as fast as they could down the hallway and stopped at a door. It looked rusty, and easily breakable. Six stepped forward, raising his arms...

...And remembered that his arm wasn't there. He looked at the metallic stump with realization, then looked at John.

"I've got it." John said, pulling a grenade from his belt. He pulled the pin and dropped it at the door, then backed Six up for the ensuing explosion. The metal of the door blasted inwards, sending chunks of rusted iron shooting across the floor on the other side. They walked through, and were greeted with the sight of the vehicle bay that Cortana had mentioned. Warthogs lined the walls, as well as mongooses. As John walked up to the nearest Warthog, something caught Six's eye among the vehicles.

"Hey, John?" Six asked.

"Yeah, Six?" John replied.

Six pointed with a much steadier hand than before to the vehicle he was looking at. "How about that one?" He asked.

"It's a prototype, but..." Cortana said.

"How fast is it?" Six asked.

"Faster than a Warthog, I'm sure. But this is the only model, and it hasn't been combat tested yet." Cortana replied.

"Alright... get on, John." Six said, resting himself in the comfortable passenger seat.

The vehicle was essentially a souped up motorcycle, jet black with a white UNSC symbol printed on the side in matte finish. There were guns mounted on either side of the front wheel, and the tread looked as tough as the cycle itself, metallic pistons and exhaust pipes lining the sides. There were a pair of heavy looking boosters on the back wheel, perfect for the current situation.

John hopped off of the Warthog and walked over to the vehicle, sitting down in the driver's seat. "Comfy." He said.

"Hey Cortana," Six said as John began revving the engine. "What do they call this thing?"

"Its prototype name is the Panther." She responded.

"Really?" He said. "I... I like it."

"Hold on tight!" John said.

They shot down the hall, much faster than a Warthog, the lights around them becoming a blur. They had to be going at least 120 miles per hour.

John checked the Panther's speedometer. Nope, they were breaking 130.

"Echo 419! We need extraction now, on the double!" Cortana said.

"Roger, Cortana. I'm coming up on your location now." Foehammer replied.

The wall to their left exploded, sending shrapnel towards them. It scratched the paint as John swerved skillfully to the right. More pipes on the walls exploded, sending more shards of metal exploding in front of them and behind.

"The _Autumn _Is destabilizing! We only have four minutes left!" Cortana said.

"We'll make it!" John said, reassuring himself just as much as Six and Cortana.

John swerved, stopping the Panther as he caught the sight of Foehammer approaching. But there was something on their tail. The Pelican's engines were smoking, thick black clouds erupting from the back of the aircraft.

Banshees. And this time, he knew they were Covenant, not Enclave.

"The Covenant are here!" John said.

One of the Banshees shot a fuel rod into the Pelican's left engine, causing a large explosion and damaging Foehammer's left wing.

"I'm hit! Mayday! Mayday! Airfoil structures have been shot to hell! I can't hold her! I can't hold her!" Foehammer yelled over the coms. The Pelican swerved in the air, beginning to turn without manual control, as Foehammer's communications went to straight static. The Pelican immediately did a nosedive, flying towards the sand and jagged rocks. Six flinched as Foehammer crashed into the ground full force, the impact blowing the hull, and everything inside, to hundreds of pieces.

"...She's gone." Cortana said, a hollow tone in her voice.

Six could hardly believe it. "That was our only way out." He said.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Calculating alternate escape route..." Cortana said. "The ship's inventory shows one Longsword fighter still docked in Launch Bay 7. If we move now, we can make it. We don't have time to mourn "

John leaned to the side and gunned the engine, shooting them back down the hallway.

They only had three and a half minutes left.

* * *

The Flood and the Sentinels were fighting battles inside of every room the two Spartans sped past, the Enclave and Covenant fighting outside of the _Autumn_ with Phantoms and Banshees as well as killing each other throughout the ship. The Flood was attacking every corpse and converting it to their side. The Covenant ran for their lives when they began to see their dead rising once again, but the Enclave simply killed them as they ran and faced the Flood with resolve, using a mix of Human and Covenant technologies. The Panther was fast enough to whiz by without the two Spartans being seen, and quiet enough to aid them even more. The muffler on this thing must have cost a fortune. Of course, this was UNSC technology, there was nothing stopping them from getting only the best.

"How much further?" Six asked. If he had been counting down properly, they had close to two minutes before they became one with the ship.

"Not far! We should be able to get there within the next fifteen seconds!" Cortana replied.

"Just when I was having fun!" Six said, as John revved the engine with more force.

Five seconds later, a group of Enclave and Covenant took their battle out into the hallway.

Right in John's path.

"Oh!" John said, swerving around them shakily. As they flew past, a particularly dead-eyed Enclave soldier fired a beam rifle shot into the back tire, shredding the tread and causing John to lose control and speed.

"This isn't good!" He shouted.

"Chief, up ahead there's a gap in the trench! At top speed, we should be able to clear it, but be careful, don't push this thing! It's experimental!" Cortana said.

"Noted!" He said, having much more to worry about now. He revved the engine and shot the speed up from the 70 they had been going without their back tire to a shaky 110.

"Careful!" Six said.

"Hold on to something!" John yelled as they hit the gap.

On the takeoff, there was a loud noise coming from the back of the Panther. The shot from the beam rifle that had blown the tire off, but neither Six nor John took into account what could have happened to the rim, as the twenty-pound hunk of carbon fiber metal broke off and fell into the hole through the bottom of the ship. They flew through the air at great speed, clearing the gap with ease, but completely botching the landing. The Panther hit the ground front wheel first, spinning so unbelievably fast that, without the support of the back wheel to even out the cycle, the wheel pulled against the metal floor of the _Autumn _with full torque and flipped the Panther forward.

"Whoa!" John yelled, still clutching the handlebars as the ground and ceiling swapped around him. Six was thrown from the Panther, sliding across the ground ahead on his back. John fell off as well, the Panther sliding on both pipe and wheel before coming to a grinding halt a few yards away, hitting the door to the launch bay. John ran to Six and grabbed him by the arm.

"...Ouch..." He said, trying to get up. "That thing needs work."

"It _was_ just a prototype." John said.

"Cortana, how long do we have?" Six asked.

"Two minutes!" She replied, the nervousness in her voice clearly showing. "I can get the door open."

"Really?" Six asked as John pulled Cortana's chip from his helmet and inserted it into the door's keypad. "We'll make it in record time, then."

As the door opened, Six realized that he couldn't have been more wrong.

Hundreds of hostiles filled the launch bay. Enclave, Covenant, Sentinels and Flood, all killing eachother. Flood were tearing apart corpse's and infecting them while Sentinels cut them down. An Enclave corpse fell from above, landing in front of them. When the door opened fully, several of each noticed the two Spartan's entrance, and began to fire.

"Get down!" Six yelled, moving to the right side of the doorway. John moved to the left, pulling the chip out of the keypad and reloading his assault rifle.

"I jinxed it, didn't I?" Six asked. He pulled out his magnum. He wasn't going to be able to reload with just one arm, so all he had was a clip of magnum ammo, the shotgun he had grabbed from the armory earlier and a few frag grenades.

"We need to get through to the Longsword!" John said.

"Cortana, how do we get through here?" Six asked. "There's too many!"

"I did the calculations when the door opened. There's not going to be an easy way through this! You're going to have to fight your way to the ship!" She replied.

"We need a plan." John said, ducking to the side from plasma blasts.

"I've got nothing!" Six replied.

"Damn." John said.

"... Well, Cortana _is_ always right!" Six said, holstering the magnum, pulling his shotgun from his back and running in, blasting several hostiles with each shot. Flood parts spewed forward, covering those standing in the way with blood and puss. John stepped out from the doorway, assault rifle firing into the crowd and gunning down a few every couple of seconds. Six blew a hole in the crowd with the shotgun's clip, pumping the shotgun by shaking the pump down with as much force as he could muster, but he ran out of ammo, and, without two hands, he was unable to reload.

"John!" Six yelled, tossing the shotgun overhead towards John. He reached up and caught it in one swift motion, pushing a shell into the shotgun, planting the barrel against an Enclave soldier's chest and pulling the trigger. John, only having the one shell, proceeded to use the shotgun like a baseball bat, bashing Flood in the face as he swung. The Sentinels were much more concerned with the Flood threat than the Spartans, flying overhead and shooting their beams.

Six ripped the magnum from its holster once again, blasting everything and everyone in the way with a bullet that might as well have been that of a sniper rifle, his skillful shooting penetrating multiple enemies at once and killing them in the process.

"You have barely a minute left!" Cortana yelled.

Six and John fought through with even more vigor than before, both out of ammo and using melee weapons. John had ripped an energy sword from a nearby Sangheili's hand, and was using his favorite weapon to its fullest extent, cutting down as many Sangheili and Flood as he could. Six had drawn his knife, still caked with his own blood, and began slashing away at the crowd, cutting throats as easily as clay putty, all while knocking tiny Flood creatures off of himself by barreling through everyone.

The number of Sangheili in the room was dwindling, Flood forms overtaking and inhabiting the bodies of the freshly dead. Six and John pushed through the crowd, making the final stretch to the longsword with great effort. A Goliath had entered Six's side of the room, killing everything from Sentinels to even its own kind in a fit of rage.

As the two Spartans broke through the thicker patch of the crowd, trampling fallen bodies as they stepped through blood and organs, among other things, like teeth.

Six and John slashed with furious strokes, practically committing genocide upon the Flood with such synchronization and precision that they could have toppled powerful foes as easily as the smallest insect.

Concentrated on the fight, Six was unaware of the Goliath's close proximity to him, and it was getting closer.

"Behind you, Six!" John yelled.

Six whipped around just in time to see the Goliath towering above him. He jumped back as far as he could, Flood grabbing him as he backed up. John broke through the crowd and began to run up the ramp to the longsword, sprinting as fast as he could. Six ducked an enormously powerful swing from the Goliath and pushed back through the crowd, breaking through them and back up to the ramp. Six looked back, as to admire his handiwork, but no bodies could be seen, all of them underfoot the Flood or up and walking around with the rest of the crowd. No more Sangheili were in sight, the Sentinels fighting a losing battle as two more Goliaths entered the room.

"How are we doing, Cortana?" Six asked.

"The ship is going to blow in about forty-five seconds! Move faster!" She said.

Six jogged up the ramp. John was smacking the panel to open the hangar, the controls malfunctioning.

"The doors won't open! Something is jamming the controls!" John said with frustration.

"Son of a bitch!" Six yelled. "Can you get it open?"

"Sure, but it would take me at least another minute, and we don't have that kind of time!" John replied. "Cortana, can you open this thing?"

"Plug me in, I'll see what I can do!" She replied.

John pushed the chip into a slot on the panel, and the screen filled with information. Flood forms were running up the ramp, realizing that the two Spartans were the only hosts left to take.

"They're coming, and I'm out of ammo!" John said, raising a dead energy sword.

"So am I!" Six said. "Do we have a plan?"

"I've got nothing!" John said, pulling his own knife from its sheathe and readying it.

Six looked at his belt, looking for any sort of bullet, when something caught his eye.

"... Actually, I might have a plan!" Six said.

"Do tell!" John said.

"No need! It's self explanatory!... I hope this works!" He stepped out of cover, gun raised. At first, John thought that he was raising his magnum, giving him a look that he couldn't see.

He was wrong. It was the Sentinel beam.

Six pulled back on the lever and out of the barrel fired a laser of epic proportions, much brighter and concentrated than a normal Sentinel's attack. Flood forms in front of them were burned as the Sentinel beam wrecked havoc throughout the crowd, harming even the dense and rubber-like skin of the Goliaths.

"Whoa!" John said, backing up.

Through Six's tinkering, he had attempted to adjust the power output from the battery to the laser itself, increasing the force and destructive power of the beam to make it at least on par with the penetrating power of a beam rifle. He had turned quite a few screws and messed with the wiring, but he was unsure of which one had made the beam this powerful, making it reach nearly the power level of a Spartan laser fired in a continuous blast. He cleared out a very nice chunk of the room with the beam, killing nearly all of the Flood present. But more were coming, Six could see them quite literally flooding through doors on the other sides of the room.

"I've got the door! We have twenty seconds!" Cortana said. John pulled the chip as Six fired another burst from the Sentinel beam. Six stopped firing, whipping around and sprinting through the doors. John followed quickly as the doors closed and locked behind them. John ran to the cockpit, sitting down in the primary seat without taking any time with a seatbelt. He grabbed the controls as Six looked to the back window, where dozens of Flood were pressing against the three inch tall glass in the middle of the mostly metal door.

"Eight seconds!" Cortana shouted.

"PUNCH IT!" Six yelled.

He gunned the engines, rocketing away from the _Pillar of Autumn _at nearly three hundred miles per hour. Six could see the _Autumn_ burning and explosions flaring all along the room's walls. The horde of Flood stumbled around before the entire back of the ship exploded with the force of a megaton bomb. The explosions intensified, shaking even the ship, already high in the air, with great force. John pushed the controls harder, piloting the ship as quickly as he could.

As they broke the atmosphere, the entirety of Halo shattered into hundreds of pieces from the unbelievably powerful explosion. Six put his hand to the wall, walking to John's side.

"... We... we made it." Six said, incredulous.

An even more intense explosion rocked even the space around them, causing a rough patch for John to fly through, but he regained control quickly, evening out the ship's elevation.

"... Okay. Now we've made it." Six said.

John was breathing heavy, his heart racing. He let his arms go limp to his sides as he tried to relax. His helmet felt uncomfortable on his head. He pulled Cortana's chip from his helmet and placed it into the terminal on the control board.

"Are you alright?" Six asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just... need to get this thing off." John said, grabbing his helmet. He twisted it, then pulled upwards, dropping the helmet on the ground.

His pale face was covered in battle scars, some faded and some that looked more recent. His dark brown hair was clipped short in typical military fashion, and his hazel eyes were shadowed by his strong brow line. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyelids, and exhaled, reopening them. He grinned. Lightly, but the smile was there.

"Oh yeah, we did it." He said. He looked up at Six with those intimidating hazel eyes of his, happiness dancing within them.

Six sat down next to John's seat and chuckled. With his one arm, he put his hand to his helmet and turned it to the side, removing his, too.

John got a good look at him. In the light, he had equally pale skin, but fewer scars, a perk of his old wetwork-style stealth. His black hair was a bit longer than John's, slick and thick. His eyes were green, but deeper than just green. They were the same color as jungle grass, dark and mysterious. He had 5 o'clock shadow that was turning into short stubble, and his eyebrows were thick.

Six grinned. His was obvious. His bright white teeth shined with his smile, and he chuckled again lightly. This was the first time that either of them had seen each other's faces, not just their helmets.

A screen on the control board flashed red.

**ENGINE TEMP CRITICAL**

"Shut them down. We'll need them later." Cortana said, her avatar popping up on the dashboard. With the flick of a few switches and a pull of the control stick, the Longsword slowed.

John leaned back against the seat of the ship, glad to finally be able to sit back and relax. He shut his eyes for a second, content. Then a look came across his face.

"Did... did anyone else make it?" John asked.

"Scanning..." Cortana said. "One small transport ship, yesterday. No others, just ... dust and echoes. We're all that's left."

"Who was in the transport?" Six said immediately, worry in his eyes for a reason that John didn't know.

"Gimme a second, I'll see if I can pull up the records." Cortana said, going through her databases.

As she started listing off names, Six's skin got progressively whiter, as if in fear of something.

"... Private First Class David Shulmer... Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson... and one more..." Cortana said.

Six looked as white as a ghost.

"... a Corporal Clancy Maegan."

Six exhaled sharply and heavily, relief washing over his face.

"He's a friend of yours, isn't he?" Cortana said.

"Yeah." Six said. "Yeah, he is."

John grinned. The tough son of a bitch made it out. John was relieved, too. Clancy was a good kid, and a fantastic soldier.

After that, the color in Six's face returned as they sat in silence.

"We did what we had to do ... for Earth. An entire Covenant armada obliterated, and the Flood... we had no choice. Halo ... It's finished." Cortana said.

John chuckled. "No," He said.

...I think we're just getting started."

* * *

**I have so much to celebrate on this day, Wolfgang. Without any of you, none of this could ever have happened. You've read this story, my first_ ever_ fanfiction, with dedication, with every chapter to come out making you hungry for more. Some of you have been critical, others have been soft, and every single one of you have been helpful in the highest possible quality. ****I would like to give a shoutout to a few of these people, in the hopes that you'll find them to be epic storytellers as well, so that some of them can one day say that they feel the same way about their stories, or so that they can continue to feel the way I feel every time I read your reviews.**

**This first shoutout goes to a user by the name of Wilhelm Wigworthy, my first ever reviewer, and the person who gave me the courage to write my second chapter. I thank you, sir, with all of my heart. He has a Harry Potter fanfiction, but he hasn't updated it since the day I wrote the first chapter. Wherever you are, sir, good luck.**

**This next one goes to Lord of Death and Time for being a dedicated reader and a good pal. He has a One shot and a story he is currently developing. Both are Percy Jackson, one of my favorite series, so check them out if that's your style.**

**Another goes out to The writing boy, whose only fanfiction originated from reading mine. He has much to learn, but so much time and space to grow. Although his writing may have more grammar issues and misplaced commas than you may like, he is a genuinely good guy, and his story isn't half bad.**

**Lastly, I would like to give a shoutout to AshleighAishwarya. She doesn't really need a shoutout, as she is a very successful writer, but I would like to thank her. After reading her stories, an idea crept into my head, and on notepad I began to write it down. Now look where we are.**

**If you choose to read any of their stories, tell 'em that Husky sent you.**

**I'm changing the Title of the story when I start writing again, too, so be prepared for that.**

**This isn't a goodbye, Wolfgang. The story is far from over. There will be a three week hiatus for me to select what route I'm going to go, write other things and think different thoughts, and then I'll continue, whether it be destined to follow the story of First Strike or moving on to Halo 2 (Expect the first one).**

**But for now, don't think of it like that. Just think of it as an ending.**

**Or a beginning, whichever you prefer.**

**Thank you, Wolfgang.**

**~Husky**


	36. Hush Hush

**Oh, screw it. I couldn't help myself.**

**I'm back! I totally gave in to the wait. You can't just expect me to stop writing this story for three weeks and not have second thoughts! The amount of time that I _did _take ****gave me space to do some research on First Strike, write for my Dark Souls II and Walking Dead fanfics, and just generally get myself prepared. Now, the thing about First Strike is that it is already a book, and a very popular one at that. As I did with every chapter in the Halo: CE storyline (exceptions being the OC first few chapters and chapter 13, plus a few others that I can't recall by number at the moment), I'm taking dialogue straight from the book. Of course, the dialogue doesn't belong to me, and neither does the storyline. Both belong to author of First Strike, the fantastic writer Eric Nylund. Give him a big pat on the back for explaining all of the middle stuff in a mere sixteen weeks! Yay! I changed descriptions of things, altered exposition, and I made it my own.**

**Kind of.**

**Another thing that I am trying is less of a 3rd person focus on Six and more of a 3rd person on both Six and John. Obviously, I'm not going to give whole chapters to John, but every once and a while there will be a paragraph or two from John's point of view. Kind of like chapter 14! Remember that?**

**Anyways, I know that everyone wants to read, so get to it, before I bore you to sleep!**

**Welcome back to the story, Wolfgang! (Not even close to) Right on schedule!**

**~Husky**

* * *

"Scan the field again." John said.

"I've already scanned three times, Chief. Like I said, there isn't anything out there but dust and echoes." Cortana said, her tone bordering on irritation.

Six, John and Cortana had been inside of the Longsword for the past hour and a half, floating in space aimlessly for what seemed like a very, very long time. For about an hour of that time, John had been trying to establish a connection between the ship and any other UNSC forces, but alas, it helped with nothing. Now, he and Cortana were searching for essentials. On the ship, they only had a little bit of everything. Even as they sat there, Six ate one of the three MRE rations that were on board. John had eaten just a few minutes ago, leaving only another ration for either of them. The things didn't fill your stomach, either. They were enough to keep a Spartan or marine going, but _never_ enough to fill a stomach.

There were no other ships, either, let alone humans. Not for miles upon miles. Nothing could have possibly survived the gigantic, sky shaking blast of the _Pillar of Autumn_, and Six believed this to be a cold fact. The only confirmed escapees of the entire ring were them and a small transport unit that left the day before, containing Clancy, Sergeant Johnson, several assorted marines, an ODST, and an ONI representative.

"If you don't find something out there we can use," John said with a patient tone, "We're dead. This ship has no Slipspace drive, and no Cryo. There's no way to get back and report. Power, fuel, air, food, water... we only have enough for a few hours. So _scan again_. Please."

Cortana sighed, and the scan ran once again. The familiar sight of the mathematical symbols that Six had been seeing for the past fifteen minutes crowded the screen in front of the control sticks, covering up every polygon and pixel with numerical data and equations.

A moment later, the screen shut off, ending the scan. "There's still nothing, Chief. All I'm picking up is a strong echo from the moon... but there are no transponder signals, and no distress calls."

A heavy sigh escaped John's lungs. Great.

"Are you not doing an active scan?" Six asked, popping a piece of dried bacon in his mouth.

Her avatar popped up on the dashboard, her hand over her eyes. "Six, there are trillions of objects out there. If you want, I can start to scan and identify each individual piece. If we sit here and do nothing else, that would take _eighteen days_." She said, obviously annoyed.

"Alright then. Forget that I asked." Six said, backing off and taking a swig of water.

"What if someone's out there, but they turned off their transponder?" John asked. "What if they don't want to be found?"

"Maybe." Six replied. "I've done it before. Your enemies can't track you if you don't have it on, but neither can anyone else. Not like there's any living Covenant - or Enclave - for miles."

"I don't know. That's highly unlikely..." Cortana said. Her avatar froze for a moment. When it unfroze, she was staring off into space.

"Cortana?" John asked.

"Interesting." She replied.

"What's... interesting?" Six said, finishing his food and standing up. It took him a lot of strength to lift himself up using only one arm. He could still move the prosthetic, as it had only been cut from the elbow down by Guilty Spark's beam, but right now, it was about as useful as a pacifist Unggoy.

"New data." Cortana said simply. "That signal echo, coming off of the moon. It's getting stronger."

"Meaning... what? We're getting closer to the moon?" Six asked.

"Meaning..." She replied. "...it's not an echo."

The screen of the Longsword lit back up as Cortana activated the Longsword's long-range detection system.

"Uh oh." Cortana said.

John and Six peered at the screen. The distinctive outline of a Covenant cruiser moved around the moon's far side, edging into view.

"Power down the holosystem." John said to Cortana, flipping switches as he spoke. He turned to Six. "Kill everything except passive scanners and minimal power to keep Cortana online."

Six opened several small panels and flicked every power switch that he saw off, including the light and gravity systems.

The Longsword darkened to nearly pitch black, the only thing illuminating any part of the ship being the dim lights on the Spartans' Mjolnir armor and Cortana's hologram, which was flickering lightly. John and Six grabbed on to stable support as their feet lifted off of the ground. The Longsword was now floating among the debris around it, hopefully blended in and undetectable by the approaching cruiser.

The cruiser moved into the debris field, pushing asteroids and space junk to the sides as they collided lightly with the hull. Another cruiser appeared behind it. Then another.

Then three more.

"Shit." Six said.

"Status?" John asked, his hands quite literally hovering over the weapons controls as he floated. "Have they spotted us?"

"They're using the same scanning frequencies as our system." Cortana said. "How strange. There's no mention them ever doing this in any of the UNSC or ONI files on the Covenant."

"Do you think that it might be the Enclave? We already know that they use Covenant _and_ Human technology." Six said.

"Never mind that." the Chief said. "They're here, and they're looking for something. Like I said before, if there are survivors out there, they'd be powered down."

"I can listen to their echoes." Cortana said, sounding a bit more mechanical than she had before. Operating at lower power levels seemed to limit her behavior a bit.

"Do it." John said.

"Process active: analyzing Covenant signals. Piggybacking their scans. Diverting more runtime to the task... I'm building a multiplex filtering algorithm..." She said in monotone. "Customizing the current shape-signature recognition software..."

A seventh ship rounded the horizon of the moon, much bigger than the others.

"Whoa." Six said.

It was, by far, the largest Covenant ship that Six had ever seen, even bigger than the CSS Battlecruisers, Corvettes or even the _Truth and Reconciliation_. It had the appearance of a normal Covenant destroyer vessel, but it must have been tens of thousands of feet long, four or five miles at least. Several large and powerful looking plasma cannon turrets were mounted on its sides, more than enough firepower to destroy any ship.

"Picking up encrypted transmissions from new contact." Cortana announced. "Descrambling... Lots of chatter. Orders are being given to the cruisers. It appears to be directing the Covenant fleet operations in the system."

"A flagship." the Chief said, his eyes narrowing. "Interesting."

"We have to do something about this." Six said. "We can't just wait to be caught."

"Scan still in progress, you two. Stand by." Cortana replied.

Six scoffed, softly enough for no one to hear. Although he respected Cortana and trusted her, particularly because of the fact that she was almost never wrong, there wasn't a chance that he was going to sit back and wait to be found by the Covenant. He wanted to be ready for it, at least. Little did he know, John was thinking the exact same thing. He floated towards the back of the room, pushing his legs off of the wall for distance. Six followed closely behind, moving fluently through the air as John pried open the weapons locker. Six grabbed a bar on the wall and stopped himself, pulling himself to the ground, and stopped at the area where the Cryogenic chambers usually were. Replacing their spot near the back was a terminal, the only other thing on the ship aside from Cortana that was turned on.

"Nothing in here." John said, closing the weapons locker. He checked his own clip as Six read the information displayed on the screen.

* * *

**MORAY SPACE-MINE LAUNCHING SYSTEM**

* * *

Six read a few lines of information, and gathered a few nice details. The chemical drives inside of the mines acted like homing missiles, so if anything got near an active mine, they would be dust in the wind. Thankfully, this didn't include the Longsword, as an I.D. chip implanted in the ship's hardware prevented it from being targeted.

Of course, the chip, along with countless other bits of machinery and larger systems, were offline. It wouldn't be a good idea to launch the system right now. Hell, it probably wouldn't be a good idea anyway.

"Got something." Cortana said.

John glided across the ship and back to the pilot's seat, anxious to see what she had found, while Six read up on more information regarding the MORAY system. It wasn't a complex mechanism to use. All he had to do was open a few safety locks and enter a PIN code, then he could direct the mines either manually or automatically.

John grabbed the back of the pilot's seat, bracing himself from aimlessly floating around the ship. "Show me." He said.

On the dashboard's smallest screen, which Cortana had routed only a slight amount of power to, a new silhouette entered view from the other side of the ship, approaching from the back instead of the front, like the Covenant cruisers. The silhouette was shaped like the bullet of a rifle, but much larger. There were thrusters on the bottom end, but they were inactive, allowing the small craft to float in a near stationary position.

"It could be a cryotube. Thruster and power packs can be affixed on their aft sections for emergencies." Cortana said. "If a ship has to be abandoned, for example."

"Move us toward it. Docking thrusters only."

"Course plotted," Cortana said. "Thrusters engaged."

The ship hummed forward pathetically, slowly enough not to be detected by the Covenant's scans, but not necessarily as fast as they needed to be going.

"ETA twenty minutes. But given the Covenant cruisers' current search pattern, I estimate they will encounter the cryo-pod within the next five minutes."

"Then we need to move a whole lot faster, but without firing the engines." Six said. "If we did, we would show up like a flare on their sensors. Can you find a way to do it?"

"Hang on," Cortana said. "I'll get us there. Helmets on, you two."

Six picked his helmet up off of the ground, putting it back on his head and twisting it to lock it closed. John did the same. Six's visor filled with the familiar features of his HUD, including his radar and shielding, as he took a breath of the metallic air inside of his suit.

"Ready?" John asked.

Six nodded. "Do it, Cortana."

"Alright, you two. Hold on to something." She said.

Six grabbed a bar on the wall as John locked himself into the pilot's seat.

Six narrowed his eyes.

"Wait a minute..." He said. "Why-"

The hatch at the rear of the Longsword slammed open, sucking oxygen out into the vacuum of space. The ship shot forward like a rocket, Six's head slamming into the back of his helmet.

"Adjusting course," Cortana said calmly. "ETA two minutes."

Six wrapped his entire arm around the bar as his feet lifted off of the ground, the force of gravity tempting him to fly from the ship.

"You're crazy, woman!" He yelled, grinning.

It was nice to get back to business.


	37. Unwanted Popularity

"How are we going to stop?" Six said loudly, the pressure of the ship's acceleration making it difficult for him to talk normally.

"Do I have to think of everything?" Cortana asked, sighing. The hatch in the back of the ship sealed itself, and the light sound of the hiss that the hatch released echoed through the ship as sound returned, previously lost in the vacuum of space. The pull of the ship's internal pressure died down, leaving Six and John to float freely again without risking being sucked outside.

"Cortana, turn our gravity back on?" John asked.

Six and John fell back to the ground feet first.

Six let go of the bar, cracking his neck as he steadied his stance. "Did they notice any of that?" He asked.

One of the sleek Covenant cruisers slowed and turned toward them. "Picking up increased scanning signal activity and strength. They suspect something, but as long as we keep up this speed, they might think that we're space junk." Cortana reported.

"Still..." John said, hand hovered over the weapons system console. "... Can't be too careful."

It would take only a few seconds for the weapons to power up. The rotary cannons could fire immediately, but the mounted missiles would have to wait for their target-lock to boot up and activate. By then, the cruiser, which outgunned them about one hundred to one, would turn the Longsword into _actual_ space junk in about a second.

Or less.

"Attempting to jam their scanners." Cortana said. "That may buy us some time."

The Covenant cruiser scanned the Longsword and the surrounding area. It looked as if they hadn't been seen yet, but they had to be careful. One wrong move, and they were dead, end of story.

"Cortana, can you clarify our scan?" John asked.

The display resolved into a clearer image. It was definitely a cryo-pod, no doubt about it now. Six walked over to the screen to get a closer look. A small asteroid hit the cryo-pod, and it tumbled, showing the sides.

"That isn't one cryo-pod, there are _three_ of them." Six said. He was right. Three pods, side by side, connected to one another.

Three survivors out of the _Pillar of Autumn_'s hundreds. At least, that's where Six had guessed they were from. Many of the _Autumn_'s crew were still in cryogenic sleep when the Covenant attacked. Hell, he was sure there had been at least one to two hundred pods, empty or occupied. He hoped that all three of them were occupied in this case.

"John, route more power to Cortana. We're going to need her at full operability if we're going to make to through this." Six said. "Go slow."

John slowly turned a dial on the dashboard, increasing the power output on the terminal that Cortana was inserted into.

"New contact," Cortana said. "I think it is, anyway. Whatever it is, it's stuck onto a chunk of rock half a kilometer in diameter."

"Can you I.D. it?" John asked.

"If I had a few seconds... damn. It just rotated out of my view." Cortana said.

On the display, Cortana replayed a silhouette of an oddly angled shape on the surface of the rock. She highlighted its outline, rotated it, and overlaid it onto a schematic of a Pelican dropship.

"Match with a tolerance of fifty-eight percent." She said. "They might have parked there to avoid detection, as you suggested."

"Lucky guess?" John asked under his breath.

"Or..." Cortana said. "...more likely, the craft crashed there."

"I don't think so. The position of that wing indicates that it is nose-out..." John said, pointing at the display. "...ready for takeoff. If it had crash-landed, it would be faced the other way."

"Of course, that would only matter depending on wether or not the crew is alive." Six said. "But I agree with John."

Another Covenant cruiser turned away from the group, scanning the area around where the Pelican was.

"Now's our chance. Let's get those pods." Cortana said.

The Longsword slowed to a stop, around forty meters away from the trio of cryo-pods. John walked towards the back of the ship. He grabbed a tether and clipped one end to his suit, the other to the bulkhead of the Longsword.

"We need to turn ourselves around." He said. "Face the aft end of the ship at the pods."

Six nodded, walked to the ship's control panel and jerked the control stick to the side, rotating the Longsword in a full one-eighty. "Be fast, John." He said. "The Covenant won't give us long."

"Decompression in three seconds," Cortana said.

John inhaled deeply, tensing his muscles. He felt like he was about to explode, like there was something inside of him that was ready to crawl out of his chest at any given moment.

Of course, there was nothing to worry about. He always felt like that.

Cortana opened the door, and all oxygen in the ship flew once again into the vacuum of space. John's feet lifted an inch off of the ground, and he grabbed on to the empty weapons locker to keep himself straight. He stayed at the ready, waiting for Cortana's cue for him to jump out. If he had read the terminals correctly, she would give him the signal right about-

"Now!" She said. John flung himself into open space, headed directly towards the trio of pods. Cortana set a navigation point on his helmet's HUD, showing the pods' exact location.

Six watched from the Longsword's scanners as a silhouette of John floated closer to the cryo-pods. At most, he was probably thirty five meters away from the pods themselves, and nearly dead-on with his trajectory. But the Covenant cruisers were scanning smaller, more specific portions of the area now. Every second wasted was another second that they could be found, and then they would be history.

Twenty meters to go...

Ten meters...

John rotated himself relative to the pods, as to get a better angle.

Three...

The Covenant's scan strength increased. All that John needed was a couple more seconds, just a few. "Come on!" Six said under his breath, glancing at the Covenant cruisers and raising his two fingers to his helmet. "John, you need to move faster. I think they're picking up our scent!"

John's fingers made contact with the first pod, but his hand slipped. "I'm... trying!" He replied, his hand making a grab for the middle pod. Just barely missed that one. He scratched the surface of the third pod, his last hope at recovering them...

And he grabbed hold of it. He pulled himself towards the pod and hooked part of the tether on to it.

"I've got it!" He said. Six hit the switch to reel the tether back in and raced back to the front so he could look out of the windshield of the Longsword.

Oh, fuck.

"Cortana, those aren't flying towards us at high speed, are they?" Six asked.

"Hurry, Chief!" Cortana said. "We've got trouble!"

John looked to his left and saw exactly what the trouble was. Two Covenant cruisers were accelerating at neck-break speed towards the Spartans and the Longsword. The enormous and easily base-destroying cannons visibly hummed and whirred as they aimed at their newfound targets. Six readied the weapons systems while Cortana gunned the engines, warming them up and paying no mind to stealthy approach; they had already been discovered, so why be sitting ducks?

Unfortunately, they would have to sit until John was fully reeled in. If the engines were to start up at this moment, the propulsion, along with the wash from the thrusters, would either whip both John and the pods around or cook him in his suit.

The cruisers were ready to fire. In a couple more seconds, the Longsword would be space slag.

"C'mon!" John said, clutching the tether even tighter than before.

Suddenly, a group of four missiles shot through the rubble and trash of the zero-gravity environment. They streaked into the closest Covenant cruiser, hitting its starboard side. The shimmering shockwave that emanated from where the missiles struck the cruiser indicated the enormously thick hard light shield that surrounded it. Six ran to the aft end of the Longsword once more to find out where the missiles had come from, as the Cruiser turned to meet the attacker.

The Pelican, previously mounted on the asteroid where it had been hiding, now shot towards the group of cruisers with amazing speed. Whoever the driver of the Pelican was, Six believed that they were either stupid, suicidal or both.

As the cruisers focused their cannons on new prey, John flew into the aft hatch of the Longsword, pods attached to his tether. Six hugged the wall as he flew in, and Cortana shut the hatch immediately, firing the engines in the meantime. John stood up, using the pods for support, as they lurched forward, accelerating towards the cruisers with their weapons hot.

The Covenant cruiser that had been struck with the missiles and another just like it were now following the Pelican, searching through the dense field of foreign metals and rock with their plasma. However, the pilot that was flying the Pelican had been carefully edging downward, completely out of sight as they circled around.

"Whoever is piloting that Pelican certainly knows their stuff!" Cortana said.

"We owe them a favor." John said. He sat in the pilot's seat of the Longsword, gripping the weapons controls, and began to fire the 110 millimeter cannons directly at the nearest cruiser's shields. The cannon blasts hit the side of the cruiser without even a scratch, surely confusing the Covenant inside. They wouldn't have a clue who to target.

"You realize that we really can't damage those Covenant ships, don't you?" Cortana asked.

"Well, it's worth the distraction." John said. "Besides, I think I have an idea."

"Care to share?" Six asked, keeping an eye on the MORAY system. Just in case.

"It's simple. Cortana, I'll give you control of the missile systems. I want you to target their plasma turrets just before they fire. They have to drop a section of their shields for a fraction of a second." John said. "We can hit one of the cannons if we time the shot correctly."

"That could actually work." Six replied. "You heard the man, Cortana. It's just as good of a plan as anything else."

"Without precise data, I'll have to base my calculations on several assumptions..." Cortana said. "But I think I can do it. Give me fire control."

John lifted a finger and pushed down on a square shaped blue button next to the weapons controls. "All yours." He said.

The Covenant cruisers were now targeting both the Pelican and the Longsword, guns warming up to a bright orange color.

"Firing!" Cortana said, and every available missile fired at one of the second cruiser's guns.

"Let's move!" John said, firing the engines and launching the Longsword into the debris field. The missiles were flying quickly and steadily towards the Covenant cruiser. The cruisers were equipped with anti-missile lasers, firing and destroying three of the missiles in mid-flight. The turrets on the cruiser got ready to fire, glowing white-hot, and the shields dropped for a fraction of a second.

It was enough.

The turret exploded with white and yellow-hot fire, spreading around a decent chunk of that section of the cruiser. The shields went back up just as the missiles connected, flattening the explosion and giving it an even larger surface area.

"That should keep them busy for a while." Cortana said, obviously proud of her handiwork.

John jerked the control stick, sending the Longsword into a barrel roll. An enormous blast of plasma from one of the other undamaged cannons slung past the ship at lighting speed, which would have surely killed them had John not acted. As he steadied the ship, a large piece of alien metal struck the windshield. It cracked slightly.

Six nearly fell over from the impact. All things considered, he was doing fantastic, but not even Spartans had superhuman healing powers. Six, being a SPARTAN-III, didn't heal very fast, and the painful souvenirs that he had acquired on the _Pillar of Autumn_ filled him with fresh pain. He looked down at his stomach wound. Right in the split of his armor, between his supplemental chestguard and his grenade belt - the latter of which was currently empty - was a four or five inch deep stab wound made by his own knife. Whoever those Enclave were, they were almost better at fighting that the Covenant.

"Or not." Cortana muttered. "Better let me drive, too."

"Yeah." John said, exhaling as he activated the autopilot.

Cortana took control of the Longsword's flight, evening out the ship's trajectory. Six could feel the difference immediately, the Longsword soaring so evenly that it felt almost mechanical, like a well oiled machine. He rose to his feet, stumbling against the pilot's seat and John as he straightened his legs.

"You okay?" John asked.

"I'm sore as shit, but... yeah." Six exhaled. "I'll be fine."

John leaned forward towards the monitors. The two cruisers were closing in on the Pelican and them, effectively sandwiching them. The two Spartans had faith in Cortana, but after a little while, they would have to start worrying. The cruisers could easily shoot the Longsword and the Pelican down if they focused their aim, and that wouldn't take much time. It wasn't like they could just fly away either, as the Longsword was not equipped with translight engines. Besides, they didn't have the fuel to get far at all, and there was no way that they were leaving behind the Pelican or its passengers.

"Six, run a scan of our surroundings. We need to even the odds." John said.

"I usually wouldn't take orders from a subordinate, but..." Six said, beginning the scan.

"Just look for something - anything - that could give us an edge." John said.

The ship's sonar scanned the environment for the eighth time that hour. Six narrowed the search, ignoring all asteroids and space matter. The scanner scanned metals, ice, the Pelican, the cruisers, the flagship...

Wait a minute. The flagship. Maybe...

Both John and Six spoke at once. "I have an idea." They said simultaneously.

"Flagship?" Six asked.

"Bingo." John said. Six attempted to hail the Pelican, the communication channels clicking as they synchronized.

"This is Noble Six, SPARTAN Bravo-Three-One-Two and Master Chief, SPARTAN One-One-Seven. Recognition code Tango Alpha Three Four Zero. Copy."

"Copy." A female voice answered. "Warrant Officer Polaski here. Damn good to hear you, Noble Six."

"Polaski, proceed at maximum burn to this position." Six said. He dropped a navigation point on the screen nearest to him and sent it to the Pelican. "Copy?"

"I copy. Plotting course now, sir." She replied. Six could hear voices arguing in the background. They were loud, but Six didn't recognize any of the voices. "I hope you know what you're doing. Polaski out."

"Get us there, Cortana," John said, tapping the navigation point that Six had placed. The two Spartans had the same plan. "As fast as you can make this thing fly."

The Longsword rolled and banked in the direction of the nearby moon. "You do know what you're doing?" Cortana asked. "I mean, we're headed straight toward the largest and most dangerous Covenant ship in this system. I assume this is part of some daring and brutally simplistic plan you've both cooked up?"

"Yes." The Spartans said in unison.

"Oh, good." Cortana said. "Hang on tight."

The ship rolled again, dodging balls of ice, metal and lasers alike. An explosion detonated near the back of the ship, almost knocking Six off of his feet once again.

"God damn!" Six exclaimed. "Looks like we have their attention!"

"I'm reading all Covenant cruisers moving to overtake us at flank speed." Cortana said.

"And the Pelican?" John asked.

"Still there." Cortana replied. "Taking heavy fire, but on trajectory to the NAV point... moving slower than us, of course."

"Adjust our speed so we arrive at the same time. When you're in range for a secure system link, let me know." John said.

"You know," Cortana said, slowing the ship's flight speed. "You never told me precisely what your plan_ is_."

John smirked under his helmet.

"Something Captain Keyes would approve of." He replied.


	38. Risky Business

**Happy Halloween, Wolfgang!**

**Sorry that I haven't updated in 1,116,964 seconds, give or take a minute or two. I've been pretty busy.**

** Also, that number of seconds is pretty damn accurate. Trust me.**

**I'll have another chapter out within the next few days. I had to put my Dark Souls story on hold for the moment, I just have too many ideas that I'm in the process of having, and it's hard to multitask. I created a story based around Payday: The Heist during the time since the last Halo chapter, and so far I'm pretty proud of it. **

**Along with that, I submitted a story for a Halloween writing event called Terror Souls, hosted by fellow writer ASouffleToServeTwo. The guy is a Dark Souls mastermind, check him out if you'd like. Be sure to check out my Terror Souls entry, which is written entirely in poetry, and my Payday story. You won't be disappointed by either.**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**

* * *

"If we survive long enough, I want a course from here into the gravity well of Basis to slingshot us around." John said. "We can do it. I know we can."

This part of the plan was simple, or at least it sounded the part. They were going to retreat towards the nearby moon, Basis, and use the pull of its gravity to shoot both the Pelican and the Longsword back at the Covenant faster than the wrinkled bastards could say "Demon".

One of the perks of having a partner in this suicide mission was that, in times of panic, Six and John really synchronized when it came to coming up with plans. They had done it before, and, so far, they weren't letting each other down. In a way, it reminded Six of his old team. The pain of losing all of them so quickly, and almost dying himself, was still fresh. He just figured out how to keep it all inside. A Spartan's life, a soldier's life, was a battlefield.

The mission came before mourning above all else.

"Alright, let's do it." Cortana said.

Cortana may have been a bit hesitant, but she trusted John no matter what, and she trusted Six nearly just as much. After all, it was Six who had carried her to the _Pillar of Autumn_ during the fall of Reach, and he very nearly perished a hundred times over along the way. It just showed the resilience of Spartans, regardless of version. John may have been stronger, and luckier, and... a whole lot of other things... but Six bested John in one category, at one thing. Spirit. John may have been unbreakable in combat, but Six was _unbreakable_. Period.

"Done. But I still don't understand..." Cortana said, trailing off. Something was going on on the radar. Or, rather, off.

"What's up?" Six asked, sounding concerned. If there was a single hitch in the plan, then things would get... explosive.

"They've stopped firing." She replied.

Six loosened his muscles. "We're on the same line of fire as their flagship. They won't shoot." He said, diverting his focus to the monitors again. Every pixel on the screen had to align perfectly with what the Spartans' slingshot plan.

"Pelican now twelve hundred kilometers and closing." Cortana said. "Within range for system link."

John clicked the coms systems on. "Polaski, release your controls. We're taking over."

"Chief?" Polaski asked. She wasn't aware of the plan yet, nor was anyone else on the Pelican. It wouldn't take long to explain, but he understood her reluctance.

"Establish encrypted system link. _Acknowledge_." John said.

"Roger." Polaski replied.

"Synchronize our courses, Cortana. Put us right on top of the Pelican." John said.

After a moment of unnerving silence, Cortana completed the connection. "Got them." She said. "Maneuvering to intercept the Pelican. Five hundred kilometers to flagship."

"We've got a little time." Six said.

"Prepare to alter our course, Cortana, as we pass the flagship. Also, get ready to direct all scanners at the flagship if we pass." John said.

'"If?" Cortana asked.

The flagship's form poured into view. Like the rest of the cruisers, it carried more than enough firepower to take down both of the smaller ships in the blink of an eye. The cannons, instead of the standard cruiser plasma cannons, were dual barreled, and looked as hot as the sun in the freezing vacuum of space, the metal ends of both barrels heated to what looked near melting point for the alien material. Burning blue plasma shone through splits in the flagship's form, giving it the appearance of a digital sort if you looked at it from the right angle. The monstrous war vessel stood out among all of the others as the two Spartans sped towards the moon at breakneck speed.

"Three hundred kilometers." Cortana said.

The cannons on the flagship were already warmed up and ready to be fired. But they didn't. Like they were waiting for something...

Then, suddenly, the cannons fired, sending a barrage of plasma torpedoes flying towards the Longsword's future location.

"Cortana, evasiv-" Six said, but was stopped in his tracks, nearly sent sprawling into the stationary cryo-pods, when Cortana banked the Longsword back, going from hundreds of kilometers per hour to nearly none as the plasma torpedoes flew in front of them. Cortana was one step ahead of the game.

Six realized why the flagship had waited a few seconds later. The Pelican weaved through the plasma torpedoes like they were nothing, but Six understood their motive. They had been waiting to line up both the Longsword and the Pelican so they could annihilate the both of the vessels with the push of a button.

Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

Luckily, the plan didn't succeed. Cortana repositioned the head of the ship towards their target, which they were approaching fast. Considering the extremely awkward angle and speed of the Longsword and the dead-center aim of the Covenant, Six counted on their enemies to miss again.

"Ten kilometers." Cortana announced. "Scanning in burst mode."

John eased back into his seat, releasing a deep exhale. "Very good." He said.

"Burning into a high slingshot orbit." Cortana said. "You might be confused about which way is up for a moment."

The Longsword's engines intensified, rumbling heavily as the ship accelerated back up, past its previous speed. Cortana wasn't wrong about being confused, either. Between the noise and the quick banking of the ship, Six's head was spinning.

"Bring us closer to the Pelican," John said. "Right on top. Give me a hard dock on its top access hatch."

"Readjusting burn parameters and re-activating zero-gravity." Cortana replied. "But you know a linked-ship configuration dur- ing an orbital burn isn't stable."

"Well, we'll just have to make this brief, then." Six said. John slipped out of his harness and drifted aft of the ship, pulling himself down to the floor, Six following close behind.

"Any idea who could be on the Pelican?" Six asked.

"Aside from Polaski, no. I guess that we'll have to wait and see." John said. He popped the seals on the access hatch and lifted it open, leaving no time to waste.

As soon as the hatch opened, a glove reached up and into the Longsword. Instinctively, Six grabbed it and pulled upwards, bringing the person into the ship. He had dark, chocolate colored skin, and a thick mustache.

John saw the black man and realized something. He had overlooked it before, but he realized now the potential danger of this particular situation.

As Six was about to address the individual, John kicked the hatch back closed with a lightning fast jerk of his leg. He pushed Six off of the man, pulled his magnum from its holster and held it to the black man's forehead, pressing him against the wall with his free arm.

Six floated towards the terminals, crashing into the pilot's seat and nearly hitting the windshield. "John! What are you-"

"You were dead." John said coldly. "I saw you die. On Jenkins's mission record. The Flood got you."

Six held his breath. John was right, and he hadn't even realized...

"The Flood?" The black man asked. "Hell, Chief, it'll take more than that pack of walking alien horror-show freaks to take out Sergeant Avery J. Johnson."


	39. Taking Command

**Happy 50k views, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**

* * *

For a moment, all was silent. Someone banged on the hatch that sat in the middle of the floor, making the dense metal echo lightly.

"I get it. You think I'm infected. Well, I'm not. This," Johnson said, patting his chest as well as he could with John's arm in the way. "Is one hundred percent grade-A Marine... and nothin' else."

"Explain how that's possible." John said. He wanted to believe Johnson, but he had to make sure. If the Flood were to come back, there would be no stopping it, no matter how many they killed.

"They got us all right, those little mushroom-shaped bastards. They ambushed me, Jenkins, and... Keyes." He said, softening his tone when he mentioned the captain. "They swarmed all over us. Jenkins and Keyes were taken... but I guess I didn't taste too good."

"The Flood doesn't 'taste' anything." Cortana shot back. "The Infection Forms rewrite a victim's cellular structure and convert him into a Combat Form, then later a Carrier Form - an incubator for more Infection Forms. Based on what we've seen, they certainly don't just decide to pass up a victim."

"Well, I've seen different." Johnson said, fishing a cigar out of his pocket and placing it in between his teeth. "They 'passed me up' like I was undercooked spinach at a turkey dinner."

That didn't sound right. The Flood consumed every living organism it could overpower, including things much larger than it. The statement that Johnson survived seemed quite a bit strange.

"Cortana?" the Chief asked. "Is it possible?"

"If what he's saying is the truth, then I want to ask this magician how he did his trick." Six said. "Because it's pretty god damn impressive, and hard to believe."

"It... might be?" Cortana replied, obviously not quite sure. "But it's also highly unlikely. Give me a moment."

For the longest thirty seconds the three had met in days, Cortana scanned Johnson's biological makeup from top to bottom. After she double and triple checked the Sergeant, Cortana decided that it was safe to let him off of the hook, at least for now.

"Well, according to the readings from the Sergeant's biomonitors, his story checks out. I can't be one hundred percent positive until he's been cleared in a medical suite, but preliminary findings indicate that he is clean of any Flood parasitic infection. He's obviously not a mindless, half-naked alien killing machine."

That was good enough for the both of them. John lowered his magnum, flicking on the safety as he rested it in its holster, and Six released a breath that he didn't remember holding.

"All right." John said. "But I'm having you checked inside and out the first chance we get. We can't risk letting the Flood infection spread."

"I hear you, Master Chief. Looking forward to those Navy nurses. Now," The Sergeant said, floating himself towards the hatch. "Let's get the rest of the crew on board... I see you've already picked up a few stragglers."

John looked at the pods. "They'll have to wait. It'll take half an hour to thaw them out without risking hypothermic shock." He said. "We don't have that much time left before we reengage the Covenant."

"Reengage..." the Sergeant said, savoring the word. He wasn't one to be far from action.

"Good. For a second I thought we were running away from a perfectly good fight." John said.

Johnson popped the hatch open once again and raised it up, opening the Pelican back up to the Longsword. Immediately, the sounds of an argument came from below.

"Dave, stuff a sock in it, alright?" A familiar male voice said. "Whoever it is, I wouldn't get too excited."

"So... what? You're just going to admit the we're dead meat?" Another voice said, also male. "Come on, bro. Have some hope!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The familiar voice said. A DMR barrel raised up through the hatch, which Johnson grabbed, and a marine pulled himself up. He grabbed the hand of the other man, also a marine, and pulled up, grabbing his DMR with the other hand.

"Thanks for th-" The marine said, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the two Spartans. "...wh-whoa!"

"What?" The other said, turning around. He pulled off his uncomfortable helmet and revealed his black army buzz cut, as well as the dark determination in his eyes. His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw the Spartans, and his face went from surprise to joy in under a second flat.

Only one transport made it off of Halo. Six knew he recognized Polaski from somewhere, it was from when Cortana had listed off the names of escapees of the ring. Among the rest were Sergeant Johnson, a PVC David Shulmer, whom Six could only assume was Dave, and...

"Clancy?" Six asked with a grin.

"Six! Long time, no see!" Clancy replied, arm outstretched. The two made a motion to high five, but Six instinctively tried moving his left arm, which, at the moment, was still a metallic stump. "What happened to your arm? Er... again, I mean."

"It's... a long story." Six replied.

Six was happy to see the marine. They hadn't had any contact since the snowy area of Installation 04, when he had been injured during the cave fight. Afterwards, Six and John left to find Captain Keyes, and since then hadn't seen or heard anything from each other.

"Clancy... you know them?" Dave asked with awe.

"Yeah." Clancy replied. "We're good friends, us three."

"Are you two pansies up there yet? Jeez!" A voice said from down below. Clancy sighed.

"I've gotcha." Johnson said, reaching his hand down into the hatch.

He pulled an assault rifle up and into the floor, and then grabbed a hand. He pulled the person, a marine corporal, up, and they stood up, grabbing the assault rifle almost mechanically. He was bald, clad in black combat armor, and had a name stitched on his uniform in gold.

Locklear.

He aimed his gun around the interior of the Longsword, looking past everyone around him, then lowered it. "Clear!" He yelled down the hatch for those still in the Pelican to hear.

"At ease, Corporal." John said.

Locklear's shifted his vision towards John's voice. Six couldn't tell if he was greatful, or if he was just aggravated. "_Two _Spartans?" He muttered. "Figures. Outta the friggin' frying pan, and into the fire."

Six recognized the combat armor after a moment. It was ODST standard issue, without a single doubt. The ODST, also known by their nicknames, Helljumpers, were the next best fighting force to the Spartans. They were still pretty far from perfect, though, and they were more powerful in numbers, one of the advantages that the ODST's had over the Spartans for the moment. Alone, they were still deadly, though.

Another man grabbed the edge of the hatch and pulled himself up. He wore a neat, smooth black uniform, and he had a Covenant plasma pistol in a holster at his side. His hair was red, and he held a cool look as he looked at John. He saw Six, and he nodded at him. On either side of the collar of his black uniform were the enameled bars of a first lieutenant, the steel glistening in the pale white light of the Longsword.

"Sir!" John said, snapping off a crisp salute. Six saluted as well, but much more casually. If this guy was a first lieutenant, then that meant he was Six's equal.

"Adjusting burn and angle." Cortana announced. The Longsword and Pelican tilted relative to the moon on the pilot's screen. "That should give you a little more than one gee on the deck."

The lieutenant lazily returned both salutes. "I'm Haverson." he said. He looked both Spartans over with moderate interest.

"You are the Master Chief, SPARTAN-117." Haverson said.

"Yes, sir." John replied. He sounded a little surprised.

"And you. You're Noble Six. SPARTAN-B312."

Six nodded. This guy was good. Even the most experienced officers didn't know every Spartan's name, much less have the ability to identify them on sight. How did he do that?

Six saw the round insignia on the man's shoulder. It was a black and silver pair of eagle'a wings over three stars of the same colors. Inscribed above the wings were the Latin words SEMPER VIGILANS—Ever Vigilant.

Haverson was ONI.

"Good." Haverson said. "With you two, we might have a chance." He reached into the hatch and pulled a final person onto the Longsword.

This last person was a woman, and she wore a pilot's flight suit. Her blonde hair was tucked into a grey cap, and her fingers were twitchy, like she couldn't wait to fly something. She saluted the Spartans. "Petty Warrant Officer Polaski, requesting permission to come aboard."

"Granted." John said, and returned her salute.

Stenciled onto her coveralls was a flaming fist over a red bull's-eye, the insignia of the Twenty-third Naval Air Squadron. That was the same insignia that Captain Carol Rawley, callsign Foehammer, had stenciled on her uniform. She had died attempting to evacuate the two Spartans from the _Pillar of Autumn_.

"So what's the story?" Locklear asked. "We got something to shoot here?"

"At ease, Marine." the Sergeant said, putting a hand up to the ODST's chest. "Use that stuffing between your ears for something besides keeping your helmet on. Notice we're not floating? Feel those gee forces? This ship is in a slingshot orbit. We're coming around the moon for another crack at the Covenant."

"That's correct." Six said.

"Our first priority should be to escape, not to blindly engage the Covenant." Haverson objected. "We have valuable intelligence on the enemy, and on Halo. Our first priority should be to reach UNSC-controlled space."

"That was my intention, sir." John replied. "But neither this Longsword nor your Pelican is equipped with Shaw-Fujikawa engines. Without a jump to Slipspace, it would take years to return."

"That does limit our options, doesn't it?" Haverson said, raising a hand to his chin in thought. He turned his back to the Chief and paced.

The Master Chief respected the chain of command, wnich meant that he had to obey Lieutenant Haverson. But, officer or not, the Spartan had never liked it when people turned their backs to him. And he certainly didn't like the way Haverson assumed he was in charge. The Chief had already gotten his orders, and he intended to follow them, whether or not Haverson approved.

"Pardon me, sir." John said. "I must point out that while you are the ranking officer, Noble Six and I are on a classified mission of the highest priority. Our orders come directly from High Command."

"Meaning?" Haverson asked, wondering where this was going.

"What it means is that we have tactical authority." Six said. "Over this mission, these ships... and you."

Haverson turned. He didn't look too happy about that, especially considering that he was having this information delivered to him by an equal and a subordinate, but there wasn't anything much that he could do about it.

"Of course. I am well aware of your mission, Chief. I'll do anything I can to assist." Haverson said.

He knew about the Spartan's original mission to capture a Covenant Prophet?

Who the hell was this guy, exactly?

"So what's the plan?" Locklear asked. "Slingshot orbit, then... what? We just going to talk all day, Chief?"

"No." John replied. "Get onto the Pelican. We only have a few minutes while we're on the far side of this moon. Grab anything we can use: extra weapons, ammunition, grenades. Keep linked up to my COM so you can hear the briefing."

Locklear just stood there, glaring into John's visor.

Sergeant Johnson was about to intervene, but Six made a subtle gesture with his hand, telling him to hold his thought for the moment. He wanted to see this.

John took a step closer to Locklear.

"Was my order unclear, Corporal?" He asked.

Six could tell that Locklear didn't like that one bit. But there wasn't anything that he could really do about it. He swallowed his pride and looked away.

"No." He said, clearing his throat. "I'm on it, Master Chief." He went to the hatch and dropped into the Pelican.

To say that this team was a mismatched, volatile train wreck was almost an understatement.

"So how do we get a Shaw-Fujikawa drive?" Polaski asked.

"We don't." John replied. "But we go after the next best thing. This is our objective."

He was pointing at the screen of the ops console.

At the flagship.

Haverson knit his eyebrows. "Chief, if we approach that ship we'll be blown out of the sky before we can even think about engaging them."

"Normally, yes." Six replied. "But we're going to rig the Pelican as a fireship. We load it with Moray mines and send it out ahead of us. We'll have to remote-pilot the Pelican, but it can be accelerated past the point where a crew would black out. It'll draw enemy fire, drop a few mines, and let us slip through the flagship's defenses.

Polaski frowned.

"Is there a problem, Warrant Officer?" Six asked

"No. I just hate to lose a good ship. That bird got us off Halo in one piece." She replied.

"So we get close to the flagship..." Haverson said, crossing his arms. "...Are we going nose to nose with a ship with a thousand times our firepower? Or are you planning another flyby?"

"Neither." John said.

"That's our LZ."


	40. Slingshot

"They'll launch Seraph fighters to engage the Pelican and the Longsword." Six said. "To do that, they'll have to drop that section of their shields. We get in, neutralize the crew, and we have a ship with Slipspace capability."

"Rock 'n' roll." Locklear said over the COM, as he was still inside of the Pelican looking for weapons. "Penetrate and annihilate!"

"If I may, Spartans." Haverson said. John and Six looked to him, attentive. "No one has ever captured a Covenant ship. The few times we've had one of them beaten and in a position to surrender, they've self-destructed."

"I appreciate your concern, Haverson," Six said. "And I agree, this plan is very risky. But, unless you or anyone else has a better plan, that's how it's going to go down."

"Hey, I'm in." Clancy said, stepping forward with his hand up. "I've been with the both of them in combat. They know exactly what they're doing. The Sergeant can attest to that as well."

Johnson nodded, but he was obviously still on the fence, along with the rest of the crew.

"The rest of you might want to get as enthusiastic. There's not exactly an alternative, and we need everyone to work together." John said. "Anything to add, Cortana?"

"Our exit orbit burn leaves us low on fuel and traveling at high velocity on an intercept course with the flagship." Cortana replied. "There are overlapping fields of enemy fire on our approach vector. We have to decelerate and dodge simultaneously. That will be tricky."

"Polaski will be on that." John turned to her. "Can you pilot a Longsword?"

"It's been a while, but yes, Master Chief. I am one hundred and ten percent on it." Polaski replied, a look in her eye that hadn't been there a moment ago.

"With all due respect to Miss Polaski's skill," Cortana said. "allow me to point out that I process information a million times faster and-"

"I need you to link with the flagship's intraship battlenet," John cut in. "When we're close you'll need to shut down its weapons. Jam its communications."

"Sending an unescorted lady ahead to do your dirty work?" Cortana asked, sighing. "I suppose I'm the only one who can."

"Lieutenant Haverson." Six said. "Program the Moray mines to release and attach onto the Pelican before we exit orbit. Set half for detonation on impact. Program the rest to detach and track any enemy ship on our approach. And Clancy, Dave..."

Six looked at the two marines, pointing at them. He noticed something. He didn't doubt Clancy's skill with an assault rifle, but he didn't know Dave's capabilities. Whether or not he would be a help or a burden was unclear. Oh, who was he kidding? No soldier was a burden.

Well, probably anyways.

"... Shoot everything that moves." Six finished.

They both nodded. "Sir, yes sir!" Dave said with a rigid salute.

Two crates and a duffel bag rose up to the access hatch, which Clancy and Dave helped pull up. Locklear pulled himself up after them. "That's it, Chief," He said. "An HE Magnum, two extra MA5Bs, one M90 Close Assault Shotgun, and a crate or so of frag grenades. About a dozen clips for the rifles—only a few shells for the shotgun, though."

"How much ammo for the magnum?" Six asked.

"Two clips, including the one in the gun." Locklear replied.

"Then I won't waste 'em." He said. The UNSC HE magnum was Six's second favorite weapon, the first being the DMR. He had years of experience with both, and they were his favorite because of their precision and power. It was easy to use, and, with only one arm, it was extremely convenient. He grabbed the magnum and located the extra clip, sliding both into his pistol holster. It wasn't a lot of firepower, so he grabbed five grenades out of the crate and attached them to his grenade belt, filling it nearly halfway. Sergeant Johnson grabbed an MA5B assault rifle, a few clips for it and and three grenades. John grabbed the shotgun, it's shells and two grenades, and then backed off to load up the gun. Clancy grabbed three assault rifle clips and a grenade, and Dave did the same.

"Orbital exit burn in ten seconds." Polaski said.

"Dog the rest of that and brace yourself." John told Locklear. "Things might get... bumpy."

Locklear filled the duffle bag with the remaining guns, grenades and ammo, zipped it up and put it over his shoulder, looking surprisingly unstrained. Six looked over the crew. Everyone looked like they had a personal grudge to settle, except for Haverson. Haverson instead had a calm look on his face, reading the situation like a book. He might not have been the most prepared, but he looked menacing in his own right.

"Releasing Pelican." Polaski said. The bottom of the Longsword shook as the hatch sealed and the Pelican detached. "Pelican away."

"Pelican autopilot programmed." Cortana said.

"Moray mines attached and armed." Haverson said.

Polaski said, "Exit burn in three... two... one..."

Six gritted his teeth.

"Burn!"

The Longsword's engine shot them forward and against the gravity of Basis. Six bent his knees and grabbed a nearby bar on the wall, the speed on the ship pushing against his stance. The Pelican pushed ahead of them and flew back into the field of alien metal and debris. The cruisers came into view. But they were no longer turned on their side, parallel to the moon. They were aiming right at the far side of Basis.

"They were waiting for us! Evasive maneuvers!" Six shouted. Polaski rolled the ship to the side, trying to lose the cruisers focus in the debris. Precision lasers soared towards them as Polaski nose-dived into the thick space junk.

"Pelican now two hundred kilometers in the lead." Polaski said. "They'll be busy."

She was right. The Pelican immediately drew fire from the cruisers as it streaked through and around the debris at high speed.

"Haverson, deploy Moray mines in three... Two..." Six said. He held up his finger at one, and closed it in a fist at zero.

"Mines away, plugging coordinates and trajectories into NAV." Haverson said. "Polaski, don't run them over."

"Roger." Polaski acknowledged. "Hang on tight, we're going in."

The Longsword entered the debris field, and the cruisers, including the flagship, began to fire in their direction. They knew that they were in the area, and they certainly weren't idiots, but the Covenant were going by luck to hit both ships, and so far they weren't coming up with anything. The less the Covies knew, the better.

"I hate this crap." Locklear muttered.

"What part of it?" Dave asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Pshh... all of it." Locklear replied. "Ships shooting each other, fire so thick you could walk on it to the LZ, and me sittin' here not able to do a damn thing but hang on and wonder when I'm going to get blown up."

Six could relate. Although he had experience in dozens of fields, space combat had to be one of his least favorites.

"Amen." Johnson said. "Now shut up and let the lady drive."

Johnson reached into a tactical hard-case and pulled out a chip, similar to the device that Cortana was stored on when she wasn't hooked up to something else. He inserted the chip into an unused slot on the dashboard and waited a moment. The Longsword filled with the sound of heavy beats and guitar riffs.

Six recognized the tune from Jenkin's recording back on Installation 04. It was flip music, which originated from the centuries old genre of heavy metal. Six didn't like it, but it wasn't bad. He preferred 20th century music himself, his favorite genre being what they called "Rock and Roll". To be honest, it was some of the only music he had ever heard, so that wasn't saying much, but the fact that the songs survived for 500 years was an accomplishment.

"Just shoot me now, Sarge, and get it over with." Locklear said in protest, covering his ears with his hands. "Don't torture me with that crap first."

"Suck it up, Corporal. This is a classic." Johnson replied.

"Yeah, well, so's a mercy killing."

Polaski continued to bob and weave through the debris with such precision that even Cortana was surprised. A laser nearly found its mark on the Longsword's wing, but Polaski dodged behind a chunk of alien metal, and the laser instead hit the debris.

"Show-off." Cortana muttered.

Six chuckled.

"Connecting to the Covenant battlenet." She announced. "Accessing their weapons systems. Stand by."

Ahead, the Pelican was still dodging. It went above the debris for a second, maybe less, and an enormous plasma torpedo found its mark. The ship, broken from constant fire of both lasers and plasma alike, burst into a grand explosion.

Polaski flinched.

"Well, Cortana..." Six said. "... We can confirm that they have _that_."

"No more fooling around." Polaski muttered. She hit the afterburners hard, and the Longsword reached a speed nearly twice as fast as the one that even the two Spartans on the vessel were straining to stand against.

The sudden increase in speed caused Six to lose balance and sprawl over the cryo-pods, grabbing on to one of the bars attached so he wouldn't hit the back of the ship. John, Dave and Sergeant Johnson weren't so lucky, and they flew to the aft of the ship without anything anchoring them down. Locklear was practically horizontal as he hung on to a piece of metal on the wall, the bag on his back pulling on him like a weight. Haverson sat at the base of the cryo-pods, their immense weight moving only slightly from the combination of Six's gravity pulling back and the speed of the ship. He got the best seat in the house, next to Polaski. Six could only imagine what her stomach felt like right then.

Wait a minute... where was Clancy? Six looked around the ship, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Looking for someone?" Clancy yelled. Six looked up.

Clancy was on the ceiling, holding on by a support bar.

"There is now insufficient distance to decelerate and make a soft landing inside the flagship launch bay." Cortana said, concerned, but also with a hint of superiority. She knew that she likely would have made the landing without a sweat.

"Really?" Polaski replied, feigning surprise. "No wonder they call you 'smart' AIs. I never would known! How about _I _do the flying, and _you _concentrate on getting those weapons offline!"

"They're launching fighters!" Haverson warned, straining to point at the dashboard. Six could barely see the screen that he was pointing to, but he was correct. On the viewscreen, the Covenant flagship now filled half the display, and several Seraph units emerged from the massive cruiser. "I've still got active signals from twenty of the Moray mines, and their momentum is carrying them within range."

"Track... them!" Six said, grunting as he struggled to use his only arm to pull himself closer.

"On it. Tracking... if I manually control a few of them, then maybe..."

Small blue and purple explosions, the ignition of Covenant fuel cells, formed on the screen where the Seraph ships had been. Haverson laughed. "Bullseye!"

"Forward weapons systems and shields are disabled." Cortana said.

"The doors are open." Polaski announced. "We're invited in."

"It'd be damn impolite to say no!" Clancy said.

"Deceleration in three, two, one." Polaski said. At zero, she released the afterburner and pulled back on the main thrusters, causing Six to flip over the cryo-pods and lay on them like a bed. The three in the back, Dave, the Sergeant and John, fell, their balance against the wall changing. Clancy almost fell freely from the ceiling, but he was able to land safely in front of Haverson, who simply stood up and rubbed his face. They were back to leg straining speed. Still to fast to land safely.

"Collision imminent." Cortana warned.

"Don't let go just yet, people!" Polaski shouted. She cut the engines and hit the maneuvering thrusters, spinning the Longsword in a full one-eighty. She then ignited the thrusters to full power, slowing down the ship's acceleration to that of a slightly safer speed, but it was far from safe enough.

"Hang on - hang on!" Polaski muttered, adjusting the Longsword's trajectory and aiming it perfectly at the hangar.

"Bullseye." She said.

They entered the launch bay at such a high speed that when they hit the hangar floor, Johnson's flip music bugged out and stopped. Unggoy and Covenant Engineers rushed for cover as the Longsword scraped across the alien metal at three hundred meters per second. They slammed to a halt as they hit the hangar wall, crushing an Unggoy or two. Everyone on the ship, except for Polaski, who was still strapped into the pilot's seat, and Six, who was too tense to let go of the cryo-pod, was thrown towards the front of the Longsword.

After a moment of silence, light groaning could be head in all directions. Six still lay on the pods, his heart racing madly as Unggoy screamed outside. Everyone on the ship was silent.

"Status report?" Six asked, breathless.

"Good." John sighed. Lies.

"Unnnh." Someone else said.

Six stood up slowly, his side still pulsing. "Sorry about this, everyone, but we don't have time to wait around."

"He's right." John groaned. "Besides, that there...

...that was the easy part."


	41. Fast and Loud

The crew of the Longsword was still recovering from their crash landing in the Covenant flagship's hangar, but they had no time to rest. About a dozen fearless, or at least slightly less afraid, Unggoy were now approaching the crashed ship that now sat against the wall.

"Shield reenergizing in place over the launch bay." Cortana said. "External atmosphere stabilizing."

"Alright... looks like we're trapped here for the time being." Six said. "Now we _really_ have no choice. We have to make it to the bridge."

Locklear stood, limbering up. He was acting explosive; he was as ready as he would ever be. "Yeah!" he said, loading a fresh clip from the duffel bag into his assault rifle. "Let's rock!"

As John rose to his feet, he couldn't help but wonder how one could be so... energetic. It boggled his mind. He looked over to Six, standing confidently. Without his prosthetic arm, he was going to need cover. Of course, he handled himself above and beyond well back on Installation 04, when they were trying to reach the Longsword in the first place, but that was then. John was exhausted, but he could only imagine how Six was feeling.

"Six." John said.

"Yeah?" Six replied.

"Are you going to be good for this?" He asked, pointing to the metal stump where the prosthetic was severed. "With your... situation?"

"I was wondering the same myself, to be honest." Haverson said.

Six nodded. "I've lost this arm _twice_." He said. "You don't see me retreating. I'm tough, and you can all count on that."

Haverson nodded. John simply pulled his shotgun from his back and pumped it. When Six said that he was alright, he was alright. He didn't doubt his word anymore.

Just then, the Unggoy outside of the ship began to open fire, hitting the windshield and the sides of the ship. The shots left burn marks on the exterior and melted the outmost layer of the windshield, turning it molten hot. Several dozen more Unggoy were hiding behind docked Seraph fighters in the hangar, popping out only to fire more plasma at the ship.

"We're going to need to get out of this thing before one of them gets smart and shoots the fuel tank." Clancy said.

Six hadn't thought of that. It would take two dozen shots _maybe_ to burn through the metal surrounding the fuel tanks. once the fuel leaked out, a steaming charge of plasma would easily ignite the flammable liquid. They were sitting ducks.

"I got 'em." Polaski said, flipping a switch on the dashboard. The ship raised up to a stationary position, and Polaski dragged her finger across the screen of the frontal view camera. Six knit his eyebrows, unsure of her plan, until he saw what was on the camera's screen.

"Guns clear." Polaski announced. "Bye, boys."

The 120-milimeter cannons began firing towards the legion of Unggoy, the enormously powerful rounds ripping through their bodies like tissue paper. Their green, phosphorus scented blood splattered on the floor as the guns swept across the hangar three times, automatically targeting any new foes that entered the camera's sights. Seraph ships exploded as Polaski fired missiles and shot fuel tanks, killing hiding Unggoy and flushing out the rest to face extermination. Those left after the cannons stopped firing ran for their pathetic little lives, screaming and waving their arms.

As the cannons cooled off, Polaski undid the straps to her seat and stood up, stretching.

God damn, that was cool.

"Is there atmosphere in the bay?" John asked.

"Scanning." Cortana replied, remaining silent for just a moment afterwards. "Traces of ash, some contamination from the melted ship hulls, and a lot of smoke, but the air in the bay is breathable, Chief."

"Good." John said.

"Alright. We're going in." Six said. "The Chief will lead. Locklear, Clancy, you're up with him. Sergeant, Dave, you've got the rear with me. As for Polaski and Haverson, you two will watch our sides."

"You'll need to take me, too." Cortana said. "I've pulled a schematic of this ship to navigate, but the engineering controls have been manually locked down. I'll need direct access to this ship's command data systems."

John's suit had a slot in the back of his helmet where an AI chip, made of titanium alloy and crystal, could be inserted. Even with his helmet on, Six could see the hesitation in John's expression through bodily movements. He understood why. Cortana had been invaluable on Installation 04, and the two Spartans likely would not have made it out alive without her assistance. But, recently, she had been acting... different. A little twitchy. That might have been because of her time spent in the databanks of the Installation, but it was still something to keep in mind. John finally moved up to the dashboard and pushed a button, ejecting Cortana's AI chip from the Longsword, and inserted it into his helmet. When she was in his suit, she had a direct link to his vitals, his shields and the damage done to his armor. With the use of some hacking techniques on the _Pillar of Autumn_, she was able to locate a direct connection to Six as well. Whenever she was inside of John's helmet, she could see through their helmet integrated cameras, check their heart rates, and warn them of incoming danger. The only time she had been unable to warn either of them was the time that Six first lost his arm. She wasn't expecting something so unpredictable.

"Still plenty of room in here, I see." She said. Six chuckled at the joke and drew his magnum, his finger ready to unlock the safety. John ignored her and nodded towards the rest of the crew.

"Let's go." John said.

Sergeant Johnson hit the door release, and the hatch aft of the ship opened up, raising about five feet. John, being almost a full foot taller than anyone else in the group, had to half-crouch under the opening, his seven foot stature putting him at a disadvantage. Six simply had to duck his head, as he was, coincidentally, six feet and six inches. Everyone else walked through the hatch with their guns either ready to be drawn or drawn and ready to fire. A rustling sound could be heard behind them, and Six turned to investigate. Before he even got the chance to pull out his magnum and shoot the Unggoy hiding next to the ship, Clancy already had a single deadly bullet out of his DMR, and the Grunt dropped in an instant, its methane fuel tank exploding and releasing the gas into the air.

"Nice shot." Six said.

"Damn right it was." Clancy said with a slight grin.

John held his arm out, stopping the crew. "Six," He said. "Radar. Look."

Six looked down to the bottom left corner of his HUD system. Along with the eight bright yellow dots, including that of himself, Six saw three red ones up ahead. Hostiles.

John took cover at the double doors that they were supposedly behind and turned the corner, shotgun raised. Engineers floated a foot above them, working on the ceiling with small machinery.

"Stand down." John said. Engineers were harmless, floating Covenant creatures. Based on several autopsies in the UNSC databases, they floated using gas produced in their bodies. They were relatively harmless, and posed no threat. There was no point in shooting them if they weren't going to hurt the crew in any way, so John lowered his gun.

"Funny that there's no welcoming committee yet." Cortana said. "I looked over this ship's personnel roster: three thousand Covenant, mostly Engineers. There's a light company of Grunts, and only a hundred Elites."

"Only a hundred?" Six asked. "That's odd. I would expect more from such an enormous vessel."

"It has thousands of Engineers, she said?" Haverson asked. John nodded. "Then this flagship likely isn't a war ship. War ships are usually occupied majorly by soldiers."

"You could be right." Six replied. "Either way, stay frosty."

John waved the team into the hallway, and they followed close behind. The hall was filled with mist, caused by plasma damage to the pipes. Engineers were scurrying around, fixing the breaks in the pipes and welding them.

Assault rifle fire came from behind Six, and he turned, ready to face an enemy. Locklear was aiming down the sight of his rifle, and two Engineers lay dead in front of him. He fired another burst into the dead aliens, an unnecessary action.

"Don't waste your ammunition, Corporal," Sergeant Johnson said. "They may be ugly, but they're harmless."

"They're harmless now, Sarge." Locklear replied.

Six sighed. "Would you rather waste good ammo on something that won't hurt you, or use it something that's coming at you with a deadly weapon?"

Locklear looked over. "Well-"

"_Don't_ waste the ammo. Try to make every shot count, Corporal." Six said, gesturing towards him. "Otherwise, you could get into a situation where you wish you hadn't. Got it?"

Locklear lowered his gun and nodded reluctantly. "Yes sir." He said.

They advanced down the hallway, the alien metal of the walls shiny enough for Six to see a dim purple reflection of himself if he focused on them.

The mist thinned near the end of the hallway, and a hexagonal door sat closed at the far wall.

"That will take us to the main corridor," Cortana said. "And from there, to the bridge."

The Chief waved Locklear to the right side of the door and Johnson to the left.

"Lieutenant Haverson," John called out. "You're our rear guard, swap out with Noble Six. Polaski, hit the door controls. Hand signals from now on."

Haverson nodded, lazily saluting as he and Six swapped positions. Polaski to the hexagonal door's side panel, ready to breach the door. She shot John a thumbs up as she readied herself to open it.

John looked around briefly, making sure that everyone else was ready. When Six met his gaze, he nodded.

"Go." John said.

Polaski reached up to the panel, but, before she could touch anything, the hexagon shaped door opened wide. She took a step back.

On the other side of the door stood a squad of eight Sangheili. The one in the front had a plasma rifle, and John and it were practically touching noses. Two of them had overshields, another held an energy sword, and the remaining four were equipped with concussion rifles and plasma pistols. Six recognized seven of them to be Elite Zealots. In close range combat, they were some of the toughest and heartless Sangheili in the entire Covenant army. The average Zealot instilled great fear into its subordinates and it's enemies, and their penchant for blood was great.

The one standing toe to toe with John, however, was a Field Marshal. They were stronger than Zealots, and a whole lot nastier.

Before even a quarter of a second passed, Six's gun was raised and firing, a bullet striking the cranial shields of the Sangheili with the energy sword. John, Locklear and Clancy were the next to raise their guns, Six beating them to the shot by a little less than a second. The energy sword Sangheili charged at Six, who met the attack with another bullet. As the Sangheili took its first step, Haverson and Polaski drew their guns and fired. Haverson's plasma pistol round collided with the Field Marshal at the same time that John's buckshot did, making the leader hide behind his Zealots.

All of that happened in the time period of about two seconds.

The remaining members of the crew opened fire, and the hallway turned from quiet and misty to loud and dangerous in an instant. An overshield Elite with a needle rifle aimed at Clancy, who it turn aimed at the Marshal. Dave fired bullet after bullet from his assault rifle as Locklear did the same next to him. Sergeant Johnson fired short controlled bursts at the energy sword Zealot. John pushed his shotgun against one of the plasma pistol Zealot's chests and blew a hole in the shields, pumping the shotgun as the Sangheili lost balance, then shot another shell into its face as it hit the ground.

Six ducked under the first swing of the energy sword, the Sangheili who held it getting fired upon from multiple sources. The first overshield Zealot fired the concussion rifle, which Clancy narrowly ducked, and raised its leg in a frontal kick, sending Clancy sprawling. He aimed up and fired a continuous and steady clip of DMR bullets into the overshield, breaking the first layer. Behind Clancy, Haverson and Polaski were dealing with problems of their own, a particularly vicious Zealot fighting the two of them at once. Haverson wasn't a great fighter in close quarters, but he wasn't without a plan. He held down the trigger of his plasma pistol, overcharging the battery's power, and released the trigger. The gun became scalding hot, which Haverson nearly dropped, but the overcharged blast downed the vicious Sangheili's shields in an instant. Polaski raised her pistol and fired three rounds into its forehead, and the body dropped to the floor.

Johnson and Locklear were now back to back, and they fired upon the first overshield Sangheili without rest, breaking through its normal shield layer and exposing its armor. Six looked past the sword Zealot for just a moment and saw the second overshield Sangheili helping the Commander it his feet. Six grabbed the swinging Elite's arm in the middle of its slice and rained bullets into its face, killing it. He snatched the energy sword out of the dead Zealot's hand and slashed the nearest Elite, the overshield Sangheili that Clancy, Locklear and Johnson had been shooting, and ended its life.

"Watch your six, Six!" Clancy shouted.

Six whipped around, pistol raised, and fired at the second concussion rifle Zealot, who was taking interest in him. It fired a shot at Six's feet in response, who rolled out of the way. John got behind the Zealot, drew his knife, and stabbed it in the trachea, busting the remaining hard light shielding and piercing its armor. He ripped the knife sideways along its neck and the Sangheili dropped to the floor, trying to stem the flow of thick, purple-blue blood. It was a useless attempt.

The Field Marshal had picked up a fallen plasma pistol and was dual wielding it with his plasma rifle, firing charged blasts and short controlled bursts at the crew simultaneously. Locklear emptied his clip on another of the three remaining Sangheili, and then realized that the Marshal was behind him. He gripped his gun tightly and smashed the stock against the Marshal's chest, doing significant damage to the shields but not quite enough to break them. The Sangheili released its wrist blade and stabbed at Locklear, who raised his gun in front of his face to block the attack. The blade stuck itself through the metal of the assault rifle with ease, as if the thing was made of butter, but it stuck there. Locklear twisted his gun and broke the blade off of the Marshal's wrist, and Dave came up from the rear wit his assault rifle to finish it off.

The Marshal whipped around and smacked Dave as hard as it could, sending him crashing backwards into the wall and making him drop his gun. This Sangheili's reflexes were incredible. Locklear threw down his own busted gun and pulled out a rather large knife, aiming for the Marshal's throat. The Sangheili grabbed Locklear's wrist in mid-plunge and roared in his face. The Field Marshal grabbed Locklear's side with its other hand and began to lift him off of the floor. Locklear was struggling to push the knife closer to the Marshal's face, simultaneously coping with the pain of the Sangheili's almost bone-crushing grip like a true soldier. But he was losing the fight.

"Surprise, you snaggletooth bastard!" Dave shouted as he got up. He jumped on to the Marshal's back and began to choke it. The Marshal let go of Locklear and focused its attention on the more prominent problem, backing up into the wall with force as it made a grab for Dave's arms.

Six finished off the second overshield Sangheili with his energy sword, then turned his attention to the Marshal, who had gotten a grip on Dave's arms. It flipped Dave on to the floor in front of it, knocking the wind out of the marine, and drew its other wristblade, ready to strike. Six charged across the room with his sword extended out like a lance. He drop kicked the Field Marshal in its toothy maw, and Dave rolled out of the way of Six, who landed almost on where he was. Six stood to slash at the Sangheili, but it recovered at the last second, batting the sword away and grabbing Six by the throat. It slammed him against the wall as the rest of the crew finished off the last Zealot. The Marshal looked behind itself, realizing its situation, and decided that he would have to hurry.

In the next five seconds, the Marshal would make an enormous mistake:

Underestimating Noble Six.

Six pressed his feet against the Marshal's shoulders and pushed, causing the Sangheili to lose its balance. Bullets ricocheted off of its newly recharged hard light shielding as it slowly drained. Six punched the Marshal in the face as hard as he could, releasing its grip on his neck, and roundhouse kicked it in the chest. He grabbed his energy sword off of the floor and lunged.

The sword pierced its remaining sheilding and armor, stabbing it directly in the stomach. He ripped the sword in a diagonal motion towards the Marshal's left shoulder, slicing its heart and lungs into pieces as the blade came out. The Sangheili collapsed to the floor, almost in two pieces, and died.

Six, breathing heavily, dropped a now drained energy sword on the Marshal's corpse.

"...Fucking asshole." He said.

Ten meters down the passage, a dozen Spec-Ops Elites rounded a corner.

"You've got to be kidding me." Locklear muttered.

"Sergeant, get the door controls!" John shouted, pulling a grenade from his belt. He pulled Polaski out of the Sangheili's line of fire, plasma hitting the wall behind her, and pulled the pin out of the grenade, priming it. He tossed it through the door underhand, the explosive rolling across the floor like a baseball. Sergeant Johnson bashed the door controls with the butt of his gun, and the doors slammed shut in an instant.

A dull thump, the grenade's explosion, echoed from the other side of the door.

"Cortana, we need an alternate route to the bridge." John said.

"I'm already on it." She replied, and a blue NAV point appeared on John and Six's visors.

"Alright." Six said. "Stick close, everyone."

As they walked back down the corridor, Dave tapped Clancy on the shoulder.

"Hey, dude?" Dave asked.

"Yeah?" Clancy responded.

"Remind me to _never _mess with him." Dave said, pointing at Six.

Clancy gave him a funny look. "Trust me, I don't think that you'll forget."

* * *

**Sorry that I haven't been updating recently! I'm juggling something around in my head, and I need to figure out how it will work before I write it. Regardless, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.**

**100 followers, though! Wow! I honestly never thought that I would get this far!**

**Have a nice day, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	42. Hom

**Hey, so you know that idea that said that I was juggling in my head last chapter? I decided that it was time for my creation to reveal itself.**

**Happy reading, Wolfgang.**

* * *

"Eyes open, people." John said. "I don't like the look of this."

The crew had circled back around to find another way to the bridge, but it wasn't the most convenient route. They were going to have to travel a bit further than planned, but so far, the plan was going well. For lack of a better term.

They were now in an extremely narrow corridor, and it was poorly lit, the perfect place for the Covenant to stage an ambush. They couldn't turn back, because John's grenade only stalled the Sangheili behind them. Before they lost sight of the door, the hexagonal metal was being burned from the other side by what appeared to be a focus rifle. Soon, they would break through, and, even if they had enough firepower to defeat them all with ease, which they didn't, it would take too much time, something that they didn't have much of either.

"This looks like a service corridor for their Engineers," Cortana said. "Their Elite warriors will have a tough time following us."

"I can't see a thing." Polaski said. "Anyone have a light?"

"Yeah, I think..." Six said. He checked his gun for a flashlight attachment. Nope. "...or not. I have night vision integrated into my helmet, but I'm the only one who's going to be able to see."

"Not ideal." John said. "We can't fight with eight people if seven pairs of eyes are blind."

"I think I can help with that." Dave said. Six turned.

Dave had a small flashlight on the side of his helmet, a dim little thing that shined a foot or two forward. He pried it off of the helmet and pulled the glass lens off.

"What are you doing?" Locklear asked, his tone equal parts confused and snide.

Dave pulled out his knife and cut a wire in the flashlight. "Simple." He said. "I'm going to reallocate the battery's power so that the input is higher than the output."

"What?" Locklear asked.

Dave sighed, then muttered something under his breath. "Basically, in a second, you're going to have to cover your eyes."

The flashlight lit up with the luminosity of a solar flare, making everyone squint.

"Jeez, that's bright!" Clancy said.

Dave shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Six looked ahead. The entire corridor lit up as if the Sun was shining directly inside of the flagship. It was a simple wiring trick, one that he could have done himself with the greatest of ease, but he hadn't even thought of it.

"Where'd you learn to do something like that?" Six asked, curious.

Dave chuckled. "Basic training. I used to pull pranks on my friends and blind them, among other things."

"It wasn't that funny." Clancy said, not amused.

"You're just mad that the drill Sergeant yelled at you every time I screwed with his rifle." Dave replied.

"Stop here." Cortana said.

"Problem?" John asked.

"No. A lucky break, maybe. Look to your left and down twenty centimeters." She replied.

"Dave, bring that light over here, will you?" Six asked, arm outstretched. Dave handed the flashlight to Six, who shined it at the wall. He could see a small port, maybe the size of the average thumb, protruding at waist height from in between two pipes on the wall.

"What is it?" Clancy asked, leaning in to get a better look.

"That's a data port... or what passes for one with the Covenant Engineers. I'm picking up handshake signals in shortwave and infrared from it. Remove me and slot me in." Cortana said.

"Are you sure?" John asked.

"I can't do much good in here with you. Once I'm directly in contact with the ship's battlenet, however, I can infiltrate and take over their systems. You'll still need to get to the bridge and manually give me access to their engineering systems. In the meantime, I may be able to control secondary systems and buy you some time." She said.

"If you're sure." John said.

"When have I not been sure?" She replied.

He couldn't argue with that, that was for sure. He removed Cortana's chip from the port on the back of his helmet and inserted her into the port on the wall.

"You couldn't _pay_ me to stick any part of myself in that thing." Locklear said under his breath.

Six raised his thumb up to his throat and moved it across in a slashing motion. Locklear shut his mouth fast.

"I'm in." Cortana said.

"What's it like in there?" Six asked.

"It's ... different." Cortana replied. "Proceed thirty meters down this passage and turn left."

The crew did so. At the point where Cortana said, there was an opening of sorts. Six waived the rest of the crew forward, and they all entered the opening, even more narrow than the hallway before. Six almost had to turn sideways.

"It's very different." Cortana murmured.

They advanced down the even more narrow corridor, waiting for Cortana to give them further instruction. Six could hardly believe how the Engineers could use this pathway to traverse the ship, for it was much too thin for their balloon-like bodies. Perhaps they had a way of sucking in their stomachs and flying through. He wasn't entirely sure of the average Engineer's bone structure, but it could be a possibility.

"I found another way to the bridge."

"Go ahead." John said.

"Uploading the route now." Cortana said. "You should... what the...?"

"What is it? What's going on?" John asked.

"There's... another AI in the system." She said. "But it doesn't match any known Covenant _or _UNSC patterns. Besides, the Covenant don't use artificial intelligence systems."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Six asked, his skin getting slightly pale under his armor.

"I'm afraid so. This isn't our technology, or theirs." Cortana said.

Suddenly, the entire ship rocked to the side. Six hit the wall along with the rest of the crew.

"What in the hell?" Sergeant Johnson asked. "Who's flying this thing?"

The ship rocked and shook again, this time with much greater force.

"I don't think that was the pilot's fault." Six said. "Cortana, locate the source of the disruption if you can."

"I already have." She replied. "Multiple plasma torpedoes inbound on the flag-"

Cortana cut out, and the communications fell into static.

"Cortana?" John asked. "Cortana!"

He paused. No response.

"Shit. We need to go back for her." He said.

"We shouldn't risk it." Haverson said. "The Covenant are right on our tail. If we slow down-"

"Listen here, _Lieutenant_." Six said. "I appreciate the help, but we _are_ going back there. Leaving her behind would be the equivalent to writing our death warrants. We don't know what caused those explosions outside, and, among other reasons, it would be ideal that we find out."

"You're my equal, so you can quit treating me like a subordinate." Haverson replied. "The main objective is still to secure the bridge. I'm just keeping my eye on the ball, so to speak."

"I said it before, and I _will_ say it again. For the time being, and whether you like it or not, _w__e _have tactical command over _you_. Unless you're agreeing with a decision made by the Master Chief or I, with all due respect, you don't have a goddamn say over how this mission unfolds." Six said. "Cortana is a _UNSC AI_. If she falls into the hands of the Covenant, then they will know about _everything_. They will know about our _fleets_, they will know about _Earth_, and they will have information ranging from the military intelligence of ONI to the amount of freckles on your_ ass_. _We are getting her_."

Six pushed Haverson to the side, and John followed behind after a moment of uncertainty. When Six got angry, he meant business, but he often took it a bit too far. Haverson glared at Six as he walked past, but sighed, realizing that the Spartan was correct, and followed.

Clancy, however, was trying as hard as he could to stifle a laugh. In his opinion, disregarding the Lieutenant's skill in combat, Haverson was a stuffy jackass with a superiority complex. He had been stuck on a Pelican listening to his orders for almost twenty-four hours straight, so seeing the guy get knocked down a peg gave him a case of the chuckles.

Six reached the corner first, where he was immediately greeted by plasma rounds firing into the corridor. He hit cover at the opening to the newer corridor and drew his pistol, loading his other clip into it and discarding the empty one on to the floor.

"Shit." Six said. He aimed around the corner and fired a shot, but the multiple Sangheili at the end of the corridor fired back what was practically a wave of plasma.

"I don't even know of they can fit into this corridor, but I'm not going to risk leaving her." Six said.

Haverson stepped forward. "Move. I have an idea." He said, attaching a module to his wrist that looked like a vambrace.

"What are you doing?" Six asked.

Haverson steeled his gaze and took a step around the corner. "Following orders."

The Spec-ops Sangheili fired plasma directly at Haverson. Six was about to pull him out of the way, but at the last second, Haverson pushed down on two buttons on the vambrace, and a thick blue shield of hard light materialized in front of him, blocking the plasma and absorbing its power.

"Come on!" Haverson said.

Six raised his hand in a fist, telling the rest of the crew to hold, and got behind Haverson, who advanced down the hall steadily.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Six asked, having to raise his voice over the loud sounds of plasma fire.

"It's an experimental prototype, something that the UNSC has been working on for ODST and Spartan use! It hasn't been distributed for field testing, but I managed to acquire one a few days ago!" Haverson replied. "In other words, its supposed to be classified, but, then again, so is the information that Cortana carries!"

"Speaking of, keep pushing!" Six said loudly.

The plasma was turning the shield purple before, but now, it was a pale pink. Just a few more feet and Cortana would be in reach, but Six had a feeling that the shield wouldn't last forever.

"Haverson!" Six yelled. "Is the shield supposed to be changing colors like that?"

"It operates similarly to Covenant dropshields!" Haverson replied. "Once it gets red, it breaks down, and needs to recharge!"

Six looked at the port, just two feet away, then looked at the shield. It was turning red.

"Grab her!" Haverson shouted. Six ejected her chip from the port, and the two ran back as fast as they could. As soon as they were ten meters away from the rest of the crew, Six readied himself to throw Cortana to John.

"John!" Six shouted. He threw the chip, and John caught it in his right hand, sliding it into the back of his helmet as the ship rocked again. What was it that Cortana had said? Plasma torpedoes?

Who was shooting plasma at a Covenant vessel?

Just then, the shield broke, and a stray shot of plasma hit Haverson in the thigh. He collapsed, his leg buckling from the pain, and fell directly into Six. Six holstered his pistol, grabbed Haverson and tried to pull him around the corner with one arm, putting all of his weight into pulling as Haverson pushed with his other leg. John grabbed Haverson as well as they reached the opening into the corridor.

"C'mon, get up. You'll be fine." John said.

The connection with John's suit and Cortana reestablished, and the familiar sound of her voice came from the coms.

"We may have a problem." She said. "I'm detecting dozens of cruisers outside of the flagship. As in multiple dozen, at least forty or fifty more than before. About twenty are of Covenant origin, but the others, I'm not sure."

"Hold that thought." Six said. "We need a direct route to the command center, as fast as possible."

"Follow this corridor and take a right, take your first left, then continue forward from there. It shouldn't be hard to spot, the interior of this flagship is similar to that of the _Truth and Reconciliation_.

"We're on it." Six said. "Let's move, people. We still have a job to do."

* * *

"Can you tell how many are inside from here?" John asked. The crew stood outside of the bridge, ready to blast the door open. They could hear loud noises, including explosions and gunfire, coming from the inside. Had the other force boarded the flagship?

"Negative, they've disabled the bridge sensors." She replied.

"You heard Cortana." Six said. "Expect anything."

"Roger that." Sergeant Johnson said. "In position and ready to kick Covenant ass."

"Chief," Cortana said. "Hurry! Covenant cruisers are targeting the flagship. They know we're here!"

"Plasma grenades on my mark." John said.

After a moment, he backed up and motioned towards the doors. "Mark!"

Six and Dave drew plasma grenades that they had looted off of a near empty ammo cache down the hall and chucked them at the door. Six had never liked plasma grenades, mostly because of how loud they were, which didn't help him on stealth missions, but after he lost his arm, he downright hated them. He had to admit, however, they were useful for blowing things to high hell in three seconds flat, a quality which he himself found quite redeeming.

The grenades stuck to the alien metal and exploded, but when the faint smoke and electric-blue plasma glow faded, the doors were intact.

"What the hell was that supposed to do?" Locklear asked.

"A hundred grenades wouldn't blast through these doors, Locklear," Dave said. "But when Covenant plasma grenades detonate, they release a short-wavelength electromagnetic field that disrupts the operation of electronics."

"English, please?" Locklear asked.

"What part of that was hard to understand?" Clancy muttered.

Dave sighed. "Grenade goes boom, electronics stop working. Does that help?"

"Whatever." Locklear replied, slightly embarrassed by his comment.

"I was just trying to elaborate, you don't have to be an assho-"

"Lock it down, both of you." Six said. "Not another word unless it's while you're watching each other's backs."

"Observe, Corporal." John said to Locklear. He dug his fingers in between the doors and pushed outwards, slowly prying them open. When the doors opened enough to where sound had the ability to escape though, all was silent on the other end. John was surprised; just a moment ago, there had been explosives going off on the other side of the door. What changed? John faltered while he pondered, then continued to open the doors.

Clancy could hear a light humming from inside. He had amazing hearing, and it was easily the most powerful of his five senses.

"Shh!" He hissed lightly. "Does anyone else hear that?"

Everyone halted except for John, who stopped after the doors were pulled open about a meter. Clancy was right. Everyone else heard the humming now, too. John stepped through the doors and immediately he lowered his gun.

"Jesus." He said.

Six stepped into the room. Purple-blue, green and orange blood caked the floor and walls all around the bridge, the fresh fluid still wet and shiny against the light. The bodies of Covenant Sangheili, Unggoy and Engineers littered the bridge like trash that had blown in the wind, pools of blood growing under the gruesomely mutilated corpses.

"What the hell...?" Six asked. "Cortana, are you seeing this?"

She stayed silent for a moment.

"Yes." She replied.

The rest of the crew walked in, and each held the same feelings of equalized disgust and awe when they saw the blood and bodies.

"There is a single hostile in the middle of the bridge, unidentifiable in origin." Cortana said. "Be careful, everyone."

The humming was getting closer. And it was coming from the middle of the bridge, where the supposed hostile was. Six's heart was racing. He saw only Covenant corpses, none of any other faction, and Cortana said there was one unidentifiable life form left in the room besides them. That meant one of two things; either the Covenant killed each other or themselves, or this life form slaughtered them all. Immediately, his mind raced to the Flood, and his heart rate increased. He then realized that the Flood couldn't be here. Cortana would have known, and the Flood didn't know how to pilot ships, or at least they didn't appear to.

Six looked towards the center of the room, a raised platform connected to stairs on three sides. He could see the light of a holographic terminal at the top of the stairs, the direction from which the eerie humming emanated.

Suddenly, the humming stopped. Whatever life form stood at the top of the stairs sniffed the air, then exhaled.

"Don't be shy." A light, female voice at the top of the stairs said.

Six froze. How did it already notice their presence?

"Come." It said. Its voice sounded similar to the flutter of wings. It was calming, yet, at the same time, it was chilling to the bone. Six was sure that he was being a bit irrational, but he almost thought that he could feel it whispering in his ears.

Both ears.

Six stepped forward, his feet hesitant. He stepped on to the first stair, and the creature chuckled. He steeled his nerves and continued climbing the stairs, the rest of the crew in close stead. As he neared the top, he saw a black armored, humanoid figure. Wrapped around its neck was a tattered, blood-red and black cloth, and from its shoulders hung the same fabric. Six reached the top of the stairs, John at his side, and stood staring at the figure. Its back was turned, and it was hovering over Covenant data and files.

The figure looked up, sniffing the air again.

It turned.

He started at the form of a large humanoid. Six hadn't seen many before, but he recognized it to be a female Sangheili. Her dark armor was strangely ancient, and spattered with multiple colors of blood. He realized why she was wearing the fabric as soon as he saw her.

Enclave. From Reach. From the_ Truth_. From the_ Pillar of Autumn_.

Six drew his gun and squeezed the trigger.

The Sangheili moved at a speed that Six could not comprehend, bending the force of the very air around her as she moved. The bullet fired into the wall behind her, and the Enclave Sangheili batted the gun away, knocking it out of Six's hand, on to the floor and down another flight of stairs. The rest of the crew raised their guns, in defense of Six and themselves. The Sangheili raised her hand in response, pointing it horizontally towards the crew, and flicked her wrist. Everyone, including Six, flew backwards down the stairs, tumbling on to their backs and some dropping their weapons. She didn't even have to _touch_ them. The Sangheili took three steps down the stairs, one foot on a step higher than the other, and raised both of her arms out in what was almost a motion of greeting.

"Humans," She said, her voice smooth like silk. "No harm shall come to you unless you fight."

"Oh yeah?" Six asked, grunting. "Says who?"

The Sangheili grimaced. "Me." She said, clenching her hands and putting her fingers together.

"I am Hom, the Enclave's prophet."

* * *

**The Enclave are no longer novelty. In my head, I thought of them as a rebellion, as a cult, and, at one point, as a plot device. No longer. They are no normal obstacle. They, like the Covenant, are an immovable barrier. Unlike the Covenant, however, they tolerate humanity. Will they help our heroes, or will they hurt them?**

**A few wrong moves, and things could go from good to absolute shit in a minute flat.**

**Have a good day, Wolfgang. **

**~Husky**


	43. Enemy of my Enemy

Noble Six stood, straining his arm as he attempted to get a grip on the bloodied floor. John was already up, his shotgun still in hand. Wisely, it wasn't raised. The rest of the crew was either up, getting up, or still recovering from the fall.

"My head... ugh." Clancy muttered.

"How did-" John began, but the prophet known as Hom looked him in the eyes.

"_Thun jafla_." She hissed.

He stopped. He wasn't frightened, but something was stopping him from speaking. It was as if his vocal cords were suddenly paralyzed. He could move his lips and tongue, but no sound came out. Six just looked at the prophet in a mixture of awe and confusion.

Thun jafla was Wortish, the Sangheili people's native tongue, and roughly translated into English as "Stop talking".

She closed her eyes tightly, and the air around her distorted. Six felt a light wave hit him, and his sight rippled. He blinked hard, and his vision returned to normal. Nothing appeared to change.

"What...?" Six asked, confused. He looked out of the bulkhead window, a few feet of thick, solid glass, and realized something extraordinary.

Nothing was moving. Nothing at all. Plasma fire suspended itself outside, unmoving. The dust in front of him refrained to move, held in the air with an unknown force. Six looked backwards. John turned just a moment afterwards.

The crew was frozen as well.

Six grabbed the shotgun from John's hands, pumped it in his hand, and aimed it at Hom.

"What did you do?!" He shouted.

"The last time that you fired upon me, you didn't profit from the experience. I don't recommend trying a second time." Hom said. "Lay down your weapon. _Now_."

He gritted his teeth, but didn't lower the shotgun. If anything, all he did was tighten his finger around the trigger.

"Answer me!" Six said forcefully.

The self-proclaimed prophet observed him with interest. Her eyes were strange; where a human's eyes were white, hers were black, and the irises bright, the color of driven snow. Her pupils... she had no pupils.

Female Sangheili looked much different than males, bearing roughly human-like features. With their flat noses, oval eyes and fair lips, one could almost be astonished that they were even the same species as their male counterparts. She looked like no female Sangheili that Six had ever seen, however. He had no way of knowing the normal appearance of one, as he had only ever seen a few, but Hom gave off a certain presence. It was more than commanding. It was... magnetic.

"You shall learn not to speak such words to _me_." She said.

She raised an open hand, and the shotgun pulled out of his grip. It shot back quickly and with great force, and the stock struck Six's visor. A jagged crack appeared in his line of sight and the visor split, his HUD's shield meter flickering from the hit. He took a step back and looked up. Suddenly, he was looking down the barrel of the eight gauge shotgun himself.

John stepped forward, and Hom shot him a death stare.

"I could kill you both where you stand." The prophet said. "It would take me a fraction of the time that it would take you to even react. But my orders are very clear."

Six lowered his hand, which he had instinctively raised to his face when the shotgun made impact.

"What _are _your orders?" He asked.

John had felt feeling return to his tongue moments after Hom froze everything else. He was talking, too, but not to Six, and certainly not to the prophet. He had killed his external speakers, effectively muting sound from coming out of his helmet via a lock on his helmet. He had been talking to Cortana the entire time.

"Cortana," He had said. "Are you there?"

"Yes, I am."

"Run biological diagnostics on her. Find out everything that you can regarding the prophet Hom."

"I'm on it." She had replied. He still hadn't heard back from her yet, however. If there was any data, an unlikely event, it was probably buried unbelievably deep.

"They aren't to eviscerate you." Hom said, replying to Six's question. "That much you should be grateful for."

"Then why are you here?" Six fired back. "God dammit, what are you?"

She looked at the shotgun and curled her hand into a fist. The shotgun, made of dense metals, crushed itself into a ball as easily as tinfoil paper, and dropped to the floor.

"How would I be practical to explain my origin, if you do not even know the origin of yourself?" She responded. "'Tis not, therefore... I stay my answer."

Six froze. How did she know about him?

John narrowed his eyes and reactivated his external speakers. "Six, what is she talking about?" He asked.

"I... I don't..." He replied.

"You asked of my orders, yes?" Hom questioned. "My orders, as of two Earth weeks ago-"

"How do you know about Earth?" John asked.

"Interrupt me again, and I'll make sure that you know pain!" Hom barked, aiming a hand at John. He stepped back. She lowered it. "...My orders have been to observe your movements and conversations. For undisclosed reasons, I have been ordered to follow your friend, here. Noble Six. My master finds him to be... interesting. And after I reported that he had an ally with... similarities... I was told to keep track of the both of you."

"I would have seen you." Six replied. "There's no way-"

"You almost have. Several times. You have a keen eye, _Spartan_," Hom said. She spit the word out like it was a bad taste. "But I'm faster than you are."

Six _hated_ being taunted.

"A scouting job? Really, though?" Six asked. "Surely a _prophet_ would be... oh, seeing visions from the great beyond?"

"You misunderstand the term." She replied. "Do you think me to be a coward like the prophets of the Covenant? I fight on the front lines, and I rip my enemies apart. The only difference between me_ then _and me _now_ is that your head is still attached."

"Then why haven't you done it?" Six asked. "What stops you from laying waste to me? To him, and the rest of our crew?"

Hom grimaced.

"I know from experience that behind every command, there's an even more complex command." Six said. "You aren't sparing us out of the goodness of your heart."

Hom adopted a sour look. "The Enclave despise the Covenant. You know this. You saw our soldiers on Reach."

"Yeah, at a... very close range." Six said. He winced. God dammit, Jun. "Your people executed a lot more than Covenant soldiers."

"I remember." Hom said. There was almost a hint of understanding in her voice. "If it is any condolence to you, the Officer who killed your companion was executed swiftly at the personal hand of our High Prophet."

"... It doesn't." Six said. He would have rather beaten the Sangheili that killed Jun raw. He would have ripped its tongue out of its throat and stuffed an energy sword down its gullet. He knew that he wouldn't get the chance, as the odds were one and a million, but it bothered him that it was now impossible.

At least he still had Kat's killer to look forward to. Again, one and a million, but it never hurt to imagine.

"One of our many purposes is to dissolve... no, to destroy the Covenant. " She said. "After they forced many of the civilizations of my home planet, Sanghelios, to join their walk of death, there was retaliation. All states who majority opposed their "Great Journey" received punishment from their own people. My state was one of them. Beings fighting each other when we should have fought the threat.

"They call you Spartans demons on account of your prowess. In the past, they have studied your augmentations and kept experiments hidden for no eyes to see. And I..." She said, lifting the crumpled shotgun from the floor. "...Am one of those experiments."

"Are you saying that... The Covenant tried to make Spartans of their own?" Six asked, dumbfounded. "And succeeded?"

"No. At least, not about the success." She said. "There were seven original test subjects. My family was abducted from their state. Me, two of my sisters and our High Prophet were selected to be... what you humans would call guinea pigs. We survived, but the other three were killed in the process. The project was discontinued and were labeled as failed experiments, wiped from the records of our civilization. They hunted us for sport. We despised them for that."

"Why are you telling us this?" John asked.

She held her hand up, but this time, it wasn't in aggression. "You know the Covenant as an enemy. I know them as a scourge. If we are to see eye to eye, then you need to know them as I do." She said. "You need to see them as a pus filled boil that must be drained. No secret can be hidden, but it is no secret that the Covenant is a grand boil of epic proportions."

"Where is this going?" Six asked.

"We are powerful, but in a battle against the Covenant, I know it to be a fact that the Enclave would fall. There's a centuries old Sangheili saying in times of war. It has poor translation to English, but a saying said by humans I heard long ago captures it perfectly...

...Have you ever heard the saying 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' ?"

* * *

**Watch out, you two.**

**I realize now that I may have just created more questions than answers. Bah, no matter. All will be explained in time.**

**Have a nice day, Wolfgang! Or night, or, um, afternoon...**

**You know what I mean. Haha.**

**~Husky**


	44. Unofficially Allied

**Lately, I've been unbelievably bored, so I decided that I would write another chapter. At some point in the near future, I'm going to write a full backstory for Hom and put it up as a side story on my profile, but I don't know when I'm going to do it. When I decide, you'll hear from me about it. Anyways... get to reading, you beautiful people!**

* * *

"Are you asking for our help?" Six asked.

Hom simply nodded. "Neither Humanity nor the Enclave can defeat the Covenant alone. Apart, we _will_ _fall_. The High Prophet, our leader, has seen it happen."

"Let me get this straight," John said. "You stop us in the middle of our only chance of getting out of deep space, throw us all down a flight of stairs, hit him with a shotgun, and now you're asking _us_ to help _you_ get revenge?"

"Yes." She replied. "That is, what you humans say... the gist of it."

John was torn. She could move faster than he could think, and she manipulated their surroundings into a full stop... but he didn't believe her. But if what she was saying was true, then the Human race really was doomed. No... That wasn't right. He... _they_ could stop it alone. Six and he were enough. But he didn't want to turn down an alliance. It would only be able to be made official through political means, but the politicians could handle the politics. He didn't trust it, but he wanted to.

"We accept." Six said.

John was decently surprised. "Six, are you-"

"All of my life, I've wanted revenge." Six cut in. "Redemption. I've wanted the prophets of Truth, Mercy and Regret to burn in the fieriest pits of hell for what they did to my mother and my community. They shattered my family into a thousand pieces, and I always wanted to shatter their skulls likewise. If she is giving me a chance to get my wish, then I _am_ going to take it. I don't care what it takes."

"I... okay." John said. He looked at Hom. "But remember the rest of the saying. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and-"

"...And the enemy of my friend is my enemy." Hom finished. "After victory is achieved, you will not be alone. You have my word."

Six grinned under his helmet, but not because of the prophet's promise.

"A minute ago, you hit me in the head with a gun. Now you're making promises and acting civil. Why?" Six asked.

Hom flared her nostrils in rage. "Do you accuse me of being soft, Human!? I'll...!" She began, but she closed her eyes, trying to control her anger. It wasn't proper to promise allance to someone and then harm them. Even if they were, by her standards, weak. "...I'll..."

"Never mind." Six said, holding up his hand. His prosthetic whirred, unable to move with his other hand, the motion of which was a knee jerk instinct. Six looked to it and ran his fingers along it. Ever since it had been severed, he had been doing this. It sounded hard to believe, but it always came as a slight shock to him to remember that he didn't have an arm, and he didn't know why.

Hom looked at the mechanical stump. How incredibly inconvenient it must have been to be missing an appendage. In her weeks of observation, she had not payed a thought to the initial disintegration of Noble Six's arm, but seeing, even now, that he hadn't surrendered put much into perspective. She could not imagine such an unfortunate thing to befall her. And she looked at the crumpled ball of the shotgun on the floor.

She held a hand towards Six, and his stump locked in place, anchored in the air by telekinetic force.

"What the hell?" He asked. "What-"

"What are you doing?" John asked.

"Hold still." Hom replied calmly.

She lifted the shotgun, her empty hand in a closed fist, and slowly spread her fingers. The metal bent to her will, and the gun's parts detached like the pieces of a plastic children's toy. Six watched in awe as her fingers danced, forming the metal into what she desired. The pump flattened, a slight curve in it. The barrel and chamber united with the pump, and the gun's body exploded into chunks, forming something new entirely.

She curled a finger of the hand that held Six's stump into place, and a dark grate on the wall tore off, splitting and squeezing into a pair of thick cylindrical shells. A piece parted on the top of the second shell, a slightly cone shaped cylinder, and Hom pushed the chamber of the shotgun through. She pulled more things from around the room - bolts, scrap, and unimportant parts - and forced them into bars and joints. She shaped smaller pieces into firm chunks, connecting them together.

It took Six a few seconds, but he realized that she was creating fingers.

As metal fused to metal and the stock of the shotgun fused to the knuckles, she had before her a sturdy prosthetic.

It shot towards Six with great speed, and it locked together with the stump. The wires shot under the shells and weaved together as the gunmetal welded itself to the remaining steel of his old prosthetic.

The lifeless metal hand opened, and went limp again. Six stared at it, holding it with his other hand. He looked up to Hom, then back down.

The thumb on the hand twitched.

He tried to close the metal hand in a fist. The fingers complied with his command. After opening and closing the hand a few times, he looked back up to Hom.

"How did you do that?" Six asked. "And... why?"

"How is a very good question." Hom replied. "But do not fret about the how. As for why... consider it a token of gratitude."

Six, surprised beyond measure, simply marveled at the arm. John did too, but only half paying attention. Once again, he was conversing with Cortana with the speakers on his helmet shut down.

"Have you found anything?" He asked.

"No. Nothing. Not even in classified or Covenant files." She responded. "Her tracks aren't covered; they're non-existent."

John sighed. No information was never a good thing, and he trusted Hom's alliance about as far as he could throw her. Considering that he would get the crap beaten out of him before he even got close to her, it showed his trust exactly. He would have to give the benefit of the doubt to this self-proclaimed prophet.

For now.

He flicked the speakers of his helmet back on. "Are we done here?"

Hom flicked her eyes to John. "Yes. We are done. I will report your acceptance to the High Prophet. Humanity will be considered a friend to the Enclave."

"And what about our friends?" John asked, motioning to the rest of the crew behind them. Locklear had a grenade in his hand.

Hom chuckled. "Spartan, no one can control time. I've simply frozen everything around us _but_ us." She said. "They, along with my soldiers and the Covenant, are still self aware. They can still see and hear, feel and breath without motion."

"Then... why freeze them in the first place?" Six asked.

"Because," She stated. "I feared that they would interfere. That Haverson fellow is a prime example of my worry, as well as the other. The one with the grenade."

Six looked back to the crew. He could imagine what they were thinking.

"Me and my cruisers shall mask your escape." Hom said. "A fair warning, Covenant soldiers will be approaching fast on this room. My suggestion is that you end their lives quickly and make haste for whatever your location may be."

John nodded and walked past.

"Got it." Six replied. He followed John back up the stairs, using his new arm to balance his weight on the railing.

"Noble Six." Hom called up the stairs.

He turned.

"If you find yourself in close quarters combat, use my gift to end your enemy's pathetic life. The stock will act as a switch on your knuckles, and I did not alter the use of your weapon." She said. Six looked down. The loading chamber sat on the forearm's shell, and above his knuckles sat the barrel.

No way.

"Farewell, Spartans." Hom said. She put her hands together and her form vibrated from side to side, shaking out of view. A moment later, she was gone.

The ship rocked as a plasma blast struck close to the bridge and sound returned. The crew unfroze, the looks on their faces a mix of confusion and uncertainty.

"What the hell?" Clancy said under his breath, standing up fully. He looked at Six's new prosthetic. He had been looking down to the floor, so he only heard the conversation, and didn't know what Hom's "gift" was. When he saw it, though, he was amazed.

"Everyone hunky dory?" Six asked.

"You mind explaining to me what just went down?" Haverson asked.

Six looked to Haverson. "We as a species just gained a powerful ally." He said, and continued up the stairs.

* * *

**Will you look at that? They've only been allies for a few minutes, and Hom is already lending humanity a hand.**

***maniacal laughter***

**Have a good day, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**


	45. The Swordsman

**In my nearly seven months of writing, I've had to write nearly one hundred thousand words. A lot of it, mostly in this story, is action. However, never have I been this satisfied with an action scene since chapter fourteen.**

**I got Dragon Age Inquisition yesterday, so I'm going to be playing that for the next couple of days. I decided that if I'm not going to write more until maybe Saturday or Sunday, I might as well give all of my readers an extra long chapter.**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

"John, get Cortana back into the system. We need to get out of here fast." Six said. "Even with Hom covering our escape with twenty five or so ships, the Covenant have at least a dozen more."

"Already in." Cortana said.

"Would anyone mind explaining what the _hell_ all of that was about?" Locklear asked. "What just happened?"

"You heard everything. You were looking." John replied. "What more is there to explain?"

"But what _was_ that?" Dave asked. "Everything stopped except for you three! No technology could do something like that!""

"Everyone, this is a pretty goddamn unique situation, I understand." Six said, addressing the entire crew. "But the only thing that you need to focus on right now is the prime objective. That being said, several dozen Covenant are closing in on the bridge_ right now_. We have minimal firepower, but we can take down these bastards if we keep our eye on the ball."

He told everyone to disregard what had just happened, but he was still thinking about it. He wasn't sure if Hom was one hundred percent trustworthy. She had contradicted herself multiple times, the most prominent being her fake aggression. She may have bashed his face with a shotgun, but Six could tell that it was a ruse to intimidate. He had seen the look that she carried on so many faces.

But, all in all, Hom was powerful, and, as an ally, she would be extremely helpful. As much as he disliked joining forces with the Enclave, the soldiers that murdered Jun and put a half of a foot of carbon fiber in his stomach, he had to. For the good of Humanity.

For the good of his family.

The main door to the bridge, covered in the blood of Sangheili and Unggoy just like a lot of the room, was currently shut tight, forcefully locked by Cortana just moments before. The safety of the thick doors wouldn't last more than about thirty seconds against a blowtorch like the Spec-ops Elites were using back at the hexagonal door.

Just as he thought that, it happened. Sparks flew through from the other side of the door and began to cut a neat square section to enter through. Six jogged towards where the Sangheili were cutting and stuck to the side, waiting.

"Johnson, you're with me." Six said.

Johnson walked over and leaned against the other side of the door, straightening his green cap and pulling back the hammer on his assault rifle.

"Let's give these dumb bugs something to cry about." He said, a ready smirk on his battle scarred face.

"Everyone else get into position. John, cover Cortana." Six said. "Don't let your guard down and don't be a hero, and we just might get through this in one piece instead of pieces. Ready?"

"Ready." Haverson said.

"Yep." Clancy said.

"Let's bust some heads." Locklear said.

The blowtorch neared the beginning cut. Just a few more inches.

The section of door bashed open, the metal, red hot around the edges, hitting the floor. Plasma fired through the door and the crew returned bullets, the smoke from the blowtorch obscuring both parties' vision. A Sangheili with a needle rifle stepped through the opening, firing rounds at the others.

Six took aim at the Sangheili with his magnum and fired three rounds at it's face. The rail clicked back and held there, the clip empty. No ammo. All he had were five fragmentation grenades, his knife and his hands, all very dangerous options considering his surroundings.

Wait a minute... what had Hom said?

_"The stock will act as a switch on your knuckles, and I did not alter the use of your weapon." _

He looked at the arm for a split second. The pump sat on the inside of his forearm. Before, he had thought Hom had just used the shotgun to make the arm whole, but now, he realized;

The arm _was_ the shotgun.

The Sangheili turned to him as if in slow motion. For what felt like a solid ten seconds, Six looked at the Elite, which he now recognized to be Spec-ops, and looked it in the eye. It's mandibles opened in a frothy roar, wide enough for him to be able to see down its throat.

Six didn't like it when they did that.

He grabbed the pump on the inlay of his forearm plate and pumped it back, one of the five shells that were in the chamber before the gun was crushed loading into the barrel. He took a strong step forward and reeled his arm back, clenching his metallic fist like a vice, and swung his knuckles forth in a furious left hook that could have bashed a hole in titanium.

Right before the stock hit the Sangheili's face, he wondered what it could have been thinking.

_Probably wondering what that black metal thing was in front of his face._

The stock impacted against the Elites face, and the shell fired, it's extremely close proximity busting through the remaining hard light shielding and shredding its face with buckshot. Bits of armor and skull shot out of the left side of its head, on Six's right, and blue blood splattered over the slightly older blue blood that soaked the floors. It's body hit the ground like a sack of rocks, settling on the floor like the perfect corpse should.

As the body hit the ground, Locklear chucked the grenade that he had been holding since he was frozen towards the incoming plasma. A stray shot found the grenade as soon as it entered the door, detonating it and rending the flesh of two with shrapnel and fire. Sangheili began to enter in greater numbers, from two to three every few seconds. The blowtorch was active again, cutting an even larger section of the door out. That was bad news.

As the crew rained bullets, more and more Sangheili funneled through the opening. Grunts came through with needlers and plasma pistols recklessly and, surprisingly, without fear. Suddenly, another section of the door came down, and more troops funneled on to the bridge, firing flurries of disintegrating plasma. Six looked past one Sangheili, and saw that the one beside him had an energy sword. He was rushing forward with an overshield, shrugging off bullets like wind. John stood at the ready, a grenade in hand and an assault rifle in the other.

The Sangheili that was operating the blowtorch was a lowly Recruit, and fast on his feet. But he wasn't to fast for Clancy's dead eye. Clancy fired eight shots through the crowd, bullets streaming through miniscule spaces and hitting the Recruit. It tried to run, but it tripped, and he finished it off without another thought. The blowtorch skid across the floor and back behind the wall, and Clancy kept firing.

The Sangheili rushing towards John had the appearance and zeal of a master swordsman. In the ranks of the Covenant military, such swordsmen were agile and powerful. They weren't your average warriors, but John was confident that he could take on a single Elite. It was clad in powerful looking armor, and it ran like an animal. It reached the top of the stairs as Dave and Haverson fired on it.

"Eyes front, you two!" John said. "I can handle this one!"

They nodded, and began to fire on the entering Sangheili, those of which were on the bridge increasing in number exponentially. The Swordsman roared at John, and did something rather unexpected. It pulled off its own helmet, revealing the greyish-purple skin underneath. It flexed its mandibles in what John could only guess was a bloodthirsty grin, then charged.

John ducked as the energy sword slashed at him, the trail of energy following close behind. He grabbed his rifle like a battering ram and smashed the stock against the Swordsman's abdomen, causing it to stumble and lowering its shields to half overshield. John recovered quickly, and pulled a grenade from his belt. As he pulled the pin, the Swordsman recovered and knocked the armed hand grenade from John's hand. It rolled town to the first step and stopped, but the Sangheili and John were relatively close by the grenade's eventual explosive radius. Using quick thinking, he kicked the Sangheili on to the floor and jumped from the platform. The Swordsman recovered with great speed and jumped after him just as the grenade exploded, warping the metal of the stairs and the rail.

Six, who was currently knifing a Sangheili in the throat, heard the explosion nearby John and whipped his head towards the platform. John was at the bottom of the stairs, back to fighting the Swordsman.

"Six!" John yelled. "Get to Cortana! I'm occupied!"

"You need help!" Six replied.

"She's more important!" John said. "I _can_ handle this!"

Six looked towards the staircase. Sangheili were running for the stairs, eager to take back control of the ship.

"Cortana, how close are you to taking this thing over?!" Six yelled, taking a running step towards the attackers. "Cortana!"

"I'm getting there. These Covenant technologies operate like no UNSC technology. They're... different. More complex. It would take me weeks, months to decipher all of this information."

"We don't exactly have months!" Six said, pushing past several Sangheili. He had to duck his head in order to not get shot. He could see Clancy firing round after round into multiple Elites at a time, causing them to hide behind their comrades. Dave, who was nearby, fell to the floor, dropping his assault rifle. It slid to Clancy's feet, but he was unaware. A Sangheili closed in on Dave as he got back to his feet and tried to run to his rifle.

"Clancy!" Six yelled, still running. Clancy looked over to him, taking his eyes off of combat for a split second. "Gun!" He shouted, pointing to Dave's rifle.

Clancy looked back to Dave, then looked to the assault rifle at his feet. He picked it up and threw it like a football to the stumbling marine, who caught it and turned around with bullets spraying out of the barrel like a hose.

Polaski was struggling, using only her magnum to fight off several Grunts. Locklear drew his knife from a Sangheili's back and ran to her side, sheathing his knife and spraying bullets into the surrounding Unggoy. Across the room, Johnson was fighting his own battle, but as Six broke from a fast run into a full-on sprint, he noticed that Johnson was staying in control of the fight. Out of all of the marines that he had met, Six knew that Sergeant Johnson was one of the toughest he ever had the pleasure of fighting by the side of. He had no doubt that he could handle himself.

John, however, was a different story. As Six came within five yards of him, he realized that the Spartan-II was perfectly matched. John put his rifle up to catch the energy sword that the Swordsman was swinging down in a perfect arc towards the middle of his helmet, and the blade, made of hard light and flesh-rendingly hot plasma, cut through it with ease. John told him to run for Cortana, but he couldn't leave his friend to struggle like he was. So he hatched a plan to intervene.

A Sangheili that looked particularly bloodthirsty stepped in front of Six a few yards away and started into a swinging motion with its arm, using the needle enclosed in its first like a set of brass knuckles. If he kept on advancing at the speed that he was going for a few more feet, then he was going to be clotheslined and knocked on his ass or worse. He reached for a grenade, pulling the pin out as he detached it from his belt. He wasn't even sure if what he was doing as he did it. Everything after that point was just based on his warrior instinct.

He spotted an Unggoy just a yard forward and to the left, and, without thinking, jumped towards it. He planted his heavy metal boot into its skull as he used the Grunt like a stepping stone, pushing his full weight off of the little monster and sailing forward and up, his hips at level with everyone else's head. As he flew towards the Sangheili, he stuck both feet down, one aiming towards its neck and the other towards its gut. Just as the Elite realized its predicament, Six's right boot connected with the unfortunate warrior's trachea, and it fell to the floor. The foot on its neck stayed on its neck, and, as the Elite hit the ground, Six crouched, his other foot connecting with its stomach. The Sangheili's body slid towards John and the Swordsman like a skateboard, clearing two yards easily. The Swordsman kicked John's leg out, and he fell to one knee, one piece of the rifle still in hand. He was trying to dodge, to regain his balance, but it was difficult to fight like he had been while his muscles ached and cramped from the constant battle since days before. His shields were broken and his every joint burned in intense pain. The savage and eager Swordsman raised his blade in another arc, closing in on the kill he had been fighting for.

Six leapt from the sliding Elite in a full tackle, flying towards the bloodthirsty Swordsman with not a thought on his mind but to protect John. He caught the Sangheili just as he brought the sword down in a strike that surely would have ended his friend's life, tackling the Sangheili sideways.

Instead of being planted in his head, the energy sword slashed John's right shoulder deeply, cutting through the dense MJOLNIR armor like a hot knife in butter. It cut the surface of the black bodysuit below as well, and burned a large section of skin below that, slicing that open at least a centimeter and a half deep and cutting into muscle. Under his helmet, John gritted his teeth with intense concentration, trying as hard as he could to hold in his reaction to the slice. He wanted to shout in pain, but he couldn't. He had felt much worse, and he knew it.

"John, go!" Six yelled over the gunfire. He looked out to pick out the members of the crew, but he couldn't see them all from where he was standing. He pumped his arm.

"I told you, I'm-"

"-getting your ass up those stairs!" Six finished.

He wanted to protest, but he knew that he would get hurt even worse if he continued. He could barely move his right arm as it was. John knew that he had been careless, getting too cocky when faced with the premise of one on one combat. He had broken one of his most important rules: _Never_ underestimate an enemy's skill.

"Get to her, n-" Six shouted, but the impact of the Swordsman's elbow struck him in the face before he could finish the sentence. He recovered from the hit skillfully, rolling back instead of continuing to stumble. He place his right fingers against his knuckle switch, aimed the barrel at the Swordsman, and pushed on the stock with force, firing the shell into the Sangheili's overshield and breaking through it. John nodded and ran towards the stairs, his arm burning. An overcharged plasma bolt impacted the floor in front of him, but he jumped over the shot just in time.

The others had been buying time and killing Sangheili that attempted to reach the controls. It had only been a minute and a half since the battle began, and easily three dozen Covenant lay dead around the bridge. They had to have been the luckiest squad of soldiers in the solar system at that moment, because most of the injuries that they had were either minor or slightly worse. Locklear had a large cut on his forehead where blood was dripping on to his nose, and Polaski was sporting a limp. Clancy was on the back of a Sangheili Recruit, strangling the life out of the thing with his gun held around its neck, and blood was running down his arm.

John rushed up the stairs and pulled out his combat knife with his left hand. It felt strange, as he wasn't exactly ambidextrous, but his right arm could barely move without causing him extreme pain. He preferred to avoid extreme pain. He reached the top stair and two Sangheili stood over the console, trying to break through Cortana's firewalls. He ran up behind the one closest to Cortana and plunged the blade into its neck from behind, puncturing vital connections to the Sangheili's spine. Its shields went down and it collapsed onto the console, not quite dead but unable to move. Its friend noticed John's presence and aimed a needler, shooting purple spikes in his immediate direction. He rolled forward, and the homing spikes turned to hit the floor behind him. He came up out of the roll with his knife pointed upwards art the Sangheili's chin, but the Covenant warrior was very lucky. It smacked the needler to the left and punched John extremely hard, stunning him momentarily. He brought the knife back in a sideways stab, and the Elite had no choice but to catch the blade with its open hand.

The Elite squealed with rage and pain, but John kept pushing the knife. John was pushing slightly harder, and every so slowly the carbon fiber knife inched closer to the Sangheili's head. Reluctantly, John struggled to move his right arm up to the knife's hilt, fire shooting through his veins. With a final push, the knife lurched forward and implanted itself into the Elite's skull, pinning its hand to its forehead. He backed up as the warrior fell and turned to the console.

"Cortana, you need to hurry." He said.

"Hang on... I'm just about there!" She replied. "Any second, now..."

Meanwhile, on the lower deck, Six had bitten off more than he could chew. He should have remembered that John, being a Spartan-II, was much stronger than Six physically, and even he could barely keep up with this mad Swordsman. The only advantage that Six had was the shotgun on his arm. He punched the crazed Sangheili in the gut, firing the third of five shells. The Swordsman's shielding was stronger than most, likely due to its penchant for close quarters combat, and still had not fully diminished after two shotgun blasts. The Swordsman retaliated to the hit with a side slash that Six barely dodged, cleaving a layer of metal from his supplemental chestguard. The Swordsman fell into his own strike, building momentum for a second slash, and came down with vigor. Six knew that he was going to have to come up with a plan, or he would be as dead as the Covenant bodies that littered the ground around him.

Suddenly, the flagship lurched upwards, propelled by an outside force.

"Got it!" Cortana said.

Six clenched his leg muscles to prevent himself from falling over, the vertical propulsion making him dizzy. The Swordsman was not expecting the sudden jump, and tripped over itself, nearly falling to the floor. Six took this as an opportunity, and kicked the Covenant warrior with the force of a speeding car. It fell onto its back as it tried to recover. A yellow glow ensnared the space around the Swordsman, and then faded in separate pieces.

Its shields were down.

Clancy, who had been backed into the middle of the room by a pair of Elites and a Grunt, fired the last bullet in his clip and reached down for another. He patted his hand around where he had put the clips, but nothing hung there. He slung the DMR over his back and turned on a dime, rushing towards a nearby body for a plasma rifle. A Sangheili stepped around him and kicked the rifle across the floor. It skid several yards away in the direction of Six, whom was still locked in combat. Clancy stumbled to his feet as the flagship began to move and ran as fast as he could towards the rifle and Six. Johnson spotted the Covenant chasing Clancy and fired at them, killing the Grunt and one of the Elites before running out of ammo. He had only one clip left.

Clancy kicked a dead grunt out of the way and jumped over the corpse of a Sangheili. He slid for the gun and grabbed hold of it, and the energy chamber rolled like a wheel. Plasma fired as soon as Clancy rolled over and aimed at the remaining Elite on his tail. Blasts of the scalding hot ammo struck the Sangheili, dropping its shields. He kept firing, and the Elite's armor eroded and hit flesh. The warrior dropped dead at Clancy's feet.

"'Little help here, Clancy?" Six grunted. He was holding the Swordsman's wrists, pushing against its force as hard as he possibly could. Six scanned the room. The Covenant population on the bridge was a bit more than one dozen, consisting entirely of Sangheili. Polaski picked up a pair of plasma rifles and emptied shots into several of them.

Clancy stood and fired at the Swordsman, hitting and melting the extra-tough armor alloy. The rifle suddenly locked up and overheated, and burned Clancy's bare hand. He dropped the weapon, and the Swordsman took the opportunity to make its move.

It kneed Six in the stomach, causing him to lose his grip, and ripped its arms from his hands. Following its own momentum, it span around in a full circle on its hell and roundhouse kicked Six to the floor. The Swordsman lunged at Clancy, mandibles and spiky teeth barred, and slashed the marine diagonally across his chest. His combat armor split and the thick cloth layer was ripped to ribbons. The plasma charred the top layer of his skin, and blood lightly oozed from the enormous wound. He fell to the floor and landed on his right shoulder, howling in pain and trying to aim the now cooled down plasma rifle.

As the Swordsman raised the energy sword, Clancy closed his eyes. He didn't want to die.

Not like this.

"_Clancy__!_" Six shouted. He rushed to his feet and dashed towards the Swordsman, pumping his arm and reeling back for what had to have been the hardest punch that the Spartan had ever thrown.

Six's fist impacted with the Swordsman's head with immense force, cracking the Sangheili's skull. The shotgun blast exploded from the barrel, sending pellets into the Covenant warrior's cheek and out of the other side. The shot unfortunately didn't strike anything vital, but the Swordsman roared in pain, dropping the energy sword to clutch its face. The hilt dropped over the railing nearby and fell somewhere below, and the Swordsman stumbled away.

"Get over here, you son of a bitch!" Six growled, and he punched the injured Sangheili in the face when he got close enough. The Swordsman took the hit and its knees buckled, causing it to fall to the floor. Six raised his fist for one last punch, but the Swordsman was anticipating it, smashing his hand to the side with the back of its own and grabbing Six by the throat.

"Locklear!" John shouted. He turned from firing at one of the few remaining Sangheili and looked to John. "Grab Clancy! He's injured!"

Locklear nodded, and ran to Clancy's side. "Get up, you lazy bastard." He said jokingly, pulling him up.

Six stared the Swordsman in the face while simultaneously pounding on it with his left arm. Cobalt blood dripped from spots all over its face, and an enormous hole from the shotgun blast lay in the warrior's right cheek. Pellet holes were scattered on the other cheek, and its mandibles were shredded. It looked as if was hit by a train, but still it fought. This Sangheili was unstoppable.

Six looked around for something to turn the tide. If he interrupted anyone, they would lose focus and possibly be killed. John would be his go-to choice, but all it took was a single camouflaged Covenant that was smart enough to self destruct the system, and the whole plan would be absolutely screwed.

Six spotted something over the Swordsman's shoulder. Along the walls of the bridge were escape pod hatches, closed tight. An idea sparked in his head.

Six grabbed the side of the Sangheili's head and put his robotic thumb over its right eye. He pushed inwards, and blood flowed as the Swordsman's eyeball hemorrhaged. It cried out in intense pain and let go of Six once again, reaching down to its hip to grab something. It came up with a plasma pistol and began firing. Six rushed the Sangheili and smashed his shoulder into its chest, knocking it to the floor in a heap. He jumped over the crumpled Swordsman and ran to one of the escape pod hatches, rushing to find a control panel of some sort to open the pods. Nothing.

"Cortana!" Six said, breathing heavily. "Can you open the escape pod doors manually? I have a friend that I know who would just _love_ to go for a ride!"

"Just a minute!" Cortana promised.

The Swordsman got to its feet. This Sangheili knew no concept of the word surrender. The warrior spat a blue and violet mess of phlegm and blood on to the ground. It activated both of its wristblades at the same time, a dark look on its face, and charged for one last attempt at the Spartan Noble Six.

The fifty sets of escape pod doors, twenty-five on either side, all opened at precisely the same moment. Six pumped his arm, lined the barrel up with the Swordsman's leg, and fired the shell by pressing on the stock. The Swordsman staggered and rolled as it tried to stand. Moving out of the way, Six got behind the Sangheili and waited for it to regain its balance. It turned to look at him. The bloody, grey-purple skin and mangled teeth of the warrior looked particularly ferocious in this light. In its one remaining eye, he saw what looked to be fear. Anger. But most of all, he saw a thirst for revenge.

Six simply gritted his teeth.

"Get the fuck off of this ship." He growled, sending a powerful front kick directly into the Swordsman's chest. The Sangheili's breastplate cracked like cheap porcelain China as it fell to the ground of the escape pod.

"Doors." Six said to Cortana. The escape pod doors shut at once, and the Swordsman crashed against the one foot thick glass trying to escape. The pod disengaged from the flagship and shot away at the speed of a bullet, twirling into the group of Enclave and Covenant cruisers like a spec of dust in the light.

Six, with his muscles burning like a methane fire and his breathing heavier than the hum of the flagship's acceleration, turned to the rest of the room. Every Covenant soldier that had entered the bridge was now dead on the floor, dozens upon dozens of corpses hung over railings and sprawled over stairs. Six looked to his crew. Not one of them was without some of their own blood on themselves, and there was plenty of Unggoy and Sangheili blood on much more than themselves.

Six leaned against the wall. He looked at John, and Polaski, Clancy, Johnson, Locklear, Haverson, Dave and all of the bodies scattered around. He looked, and he sighed deeply.

"Good work, all of you. That..._ that _was, uh... the hard part." He said, relaxing his aching muscles.

For now, Cortana could fly the flagship, but she would need the rest of the crew, including Six, to help again soon.

Six decided to make the most of this extra time. Who knew when he would get another moment of silence like this one?

* * *

**In Halo: First Strike, Haverson sustained an injury very similar to Clancy's in almost the exact same way. The Swordsman appeared in a different manner at the same point in the story, and the original 5 in the crew (John, Polaski, Locklear, Johnson, Haverson) could barely deal with him.**

**I hope that you enjoyed this extra long chapter, Wolfgang! Have a super extra fantabulous day, wished by yours truly!**

**~Husky**


	46. Injured and Tired

**Sorry for the long wait! I've been sick in bed with a fever since Tuesday afternoon, and what with Thanksgiving, which honestly shouldn't be a holiday, I've been occupied otherwise. Regardless, here's a fresh new chapter for all to read!**

** Have a good one, Wolfgang!**

**~Husky**

* * *

"Our shields are running low. If we keep taking constant fire like this, we'll be wide open for anything that his the ship." Cortana announced. The ship rocked with blasts of plasma. From where he was sitting, Six could see a large mass of plasma roaring towards the bridge. It crashed against the silvery-white barrier that floated around the flagship, and the plasma spread over it like a thin layer of water before slowly fading in the vacuum of space.

"We're going to have to rely on "Hom" to honor her end of the deal." John said, clutching his shoulder. Something about the self-proclaimed prophet of the Enclave was shady, to say the least. The deal was sudden. Call him paranoid, but he had learned to follow his gut feeling over the years. He didn't trust her at all. He looked out to the cruisers outside.

"Polaski, how is Clancy doing?" Six asked, standing up and walking over to his friend. His face looked pained, but he knew that the marine had experienced much worse in the past week. Still, Six was worried.

"He needs some patching up, that's for sure." Polaski said. "I'm no combat medic, but I don't think there's any fatal damage."

"I can't feel anything around this whole area on my chest. All of the pain is everywhere else." Clancy said, cringing. "...But I can still fight.

"Yeah, well, the hope is that we won't have to." Six replied, holding his left hand out to Clancy. The slash across his chest was dark red, both from singed blood and plasma burnt flesh. The sword slash had, obviously, torn through his standard issue ballistic armor like tissue paper. It wasn't deep, maybe just deep enough to have broken his skin, but the slash looked much worse than it probably was. Along with that, he had a massive bleeding cut on the back of his left forearm.

If Hom hadn't warned them, he realized that they could have been caught completely off guard. Someone could have died. _Clancy _could have died.

Clancy reached out to Six and pulled up, bringing himself to his feet.

"Now that we've survived that attack," Haverson said, I think that you owe us an explanation. About Hom."

Six shook his head and held his hand out. "Now is not the time, lieutenant. You know about as much as I-"

"Who are the Enclave?" He cut in. "ONI has no previous records of them that I know of, and you seem to know them pretty well. How?"

Six sighed heavily. Haverson was stepping on his every nerve with steel-toe boots, something that he was used to dealing with when talking to his betters. No matter what he said to this Lieutenant, nothing pleased him. It was pissing him off. Then again, maybe it was time to give an explanation.

"I don't know _who_ the Enclave are. According to what Hom said, I would guess that they're some sort of... Insurrection. Rebels with cause to overthrow the Covenant and destroy them." Six replied. "Me and the Chief have encountered them before a few times, namely in Aszod, the _Truth and Reconciliation_ and the _Pillar of Autumn_."

"Aszod?" Haverson asked, startled. "Those savages were on Reach?"

"Talk about this later, you two!" Cortana said. "Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here!"

"Right." Haverson said. He brushed off his uniform with a hand and lazily saluted Six, then walked over the abundant Covenant corpses to check on the others.

Six barely returned the salute, and rushed up the stairs to John. He had so many things on his mind at the moment, he found it hard to believe that his head was still placed on his shoulders correctly. He thought about how the Enclave weren't trustworthy allies. He worried about Clancy, John and the rest of the team's injuries. But above both of them, he couldn't wait to get revenge for his family. To avenge all of them.

Well, most of them. But he still couldn't trust what has saw on the_ Autumn_. It just... didn't make sense to him.

"How are we doing over here?" Six asked.

"Cortana is trying to get this hunk of junk out of this sector as fast as she-" John said. He was cut off by an extremely large explosion. The ship's weak shields took most of the impact, but the ship rocked at least 45 degrees clockwise. John lost his balance and fell into the guard rail along with Six. Those down on the bridge floor tumbled and struggled to stay standing.

The flagship leveled itself. "Damn, we cant take another hit like that! Not with our shields!" Cortana said under her breath.

John rushed back to the display terminals, putting most of his weight into leaning on them. "Great."

"That doesn't sound good at all." Six said. He walked to John's side and looked at the display screen, prepared for the worst.

Four Covenant cruisers were targeting the flagship, and they were getting ready to fire payloads of plasma torpedoes directly into the bridge.

"Cortana, double time. We _can not _take many hits like that!" Six said.

"No good," Cortana said. "I can't overcome our inertia in this ship. They're going to hit us... unless... unless I can get us into Slipspace."

"Whatever it takes." Six said.

After a moment of musical warbling, the display screen flashed a deep red.

"Oh no." Cortana said.

The first plasma torpedo hit the bridge. The silver shields flickered, barley able to take the hit. Dull blue fire smeared across the bridge's enormous half-circle window. Again, the ship rocked hard.

"Oh no, what?" Haverson demanded.

"This ship's Slipspace generator is inert!" Cortana replied. "The disabled NAV controls were a trick. It must have been that AI, from back in the Engineer tunnels! I can maneuver all I want, give orders to the Slipspace generator, but without the system powered up we're not going anywhere."

"AI?" Haverson muttered, and raised an eyebrow. "The Covenant have access to artificial intelligence?"

"Upload the coordinates to power coupling." John said. "I'll take care of it."

"I'm coming with you." Six said, motioning his hand towards John's arm. "You can barely move that thing."

John looked to Six. His shields were flickering, refusing to recharge correctly. He looked weary, despite his great stature, and Six knew that the Spartan-II wanted nothing more than to rest. Ignoring his pain and his sore body's cries for a break, John nodded at Six. They had each other's backs.

One more plasma torpedo splashed against the shield, and the entire bridge shook violently. There was a light chirp below Six's feet, but before he had time to take notice of the familiar sound, another shot struck with just as much force. Six stumbled backwards and tripped on the top stair. He fell, rolling and hitting just about everything on the way down. He landed face down, and he tried to get up almost immediately. He had landed on the chest of a dead Sangheili.

"Six, are you okay?" John asked, coming down the stairs after him.

A sharp pain in his side stopped him. Six sucked in air as the intense feeling wracked his stomach. He rolled over and looked down to his midsection to find that his knife wound had re-opened, and blood was freely flowing out of the incision in his armor. As he slowly attempted to stand, the pain shot through him. He rested his head against the Sangheili's chest like a pillow. He tried one more to stand, this time with even more pain, but with the help of John and a few seconds to collect himself, he was back on his feet.

"Six, your armor is breached." Dave said. "You're bleeding."

"Keen eye, private. Tell me something that I don't know." Six replied.

"Energy shields collapsing!" Cortana said. "Brace!"

The last shot hit the flagship, and everyone inside, like a train. Various vapors shot from pipes all across the walls, and Six nearly fell over yet again. He could hear the fission and hissing of the torpedo's impact, and yet again he heard the noise; a loud, electronic chirp.

"Another hit like that will breach the hull." Cortana said. "Moving this tub at flank speed. Ill do whatever I can to keep another hit like that away from the bridge."

"The power coupling coordinates, Cortana." John insisted, making his way back up the stairs. "We have no other options."

"Those won't do you any good." Cortana told him. "There are bound to be Elite hunt-and-kill teams waiting for you. And even if you managed to remove them, there is no way to repair the power coupling in time. We don't have the tools or the expertise."

John sighed. Cortana was right. He and Six weren't complete technological geniuses, no matter how he cut it. Besides the fact that neither had knowledge of how to repair a Covenant ship's power couplings, they didn't have the firepower to get down - past what was sure to be even more Covenant than Cortana knew - and fix the damn things. He hit his hand against the console's sleek body and went deep into thought. They needed a plan.

Suddenly, quite gargly chirp echoed from under the bridge stairs.

The sound broke John's train of thought, and he peered over the railing to identify the sound. A small tentacle poked itself out from in-between a pair of individual stairs, and an Engineer inched its way out of the opening. Six walked up the stairs to the creature and crossed his arms.

The Engineer trembled with fear as it noticed the Spartans' presence. It didn't know that there were two. It had seen one, and the other, but, because of its strange form of sight, it simply didn't know that there were two. It squirmed with uncertainty and Six looked it up and down.

"Maybe we don't have the expertise," He said. "But this thing does. Can you communicate with it? Tell it what we need?"

"Well," Cortana replied. "There is an extensive communications suite in the Covenant lexic—"

"Just tell it that we're taking it to fix something important." John said.

"All right." Cortana said.

The speakers on the bridge hummed to life, the sharp crack of an open channel echoing all across the room. Several chirps and clicks came from the speakers, and then there was silence. The channel closed, and the Engineer calmed down a bit. It made two chirps and a click, then latched itself to Six's shoulder.

"It says 'good' and 'hurry'. " Cortana said.

"Everyone else stay here." Six said. "Me and John are going to see to it that we make it out of here in one piece instead of pieces."

"If you insist!" Haverson muttered, his face weary. Blood trickled from his lip, a wound that he had acquired from an extremely hard right hook.

John looked at Johnson and Locklear. "Don't let the Covenant retake the bridge."

"Not a problem, Chief." Sergeant Johnson said. He pulled back the latch that held the clip in its slot, and the clip fell out. Locklear handed him an almost full clip, maybe two or three bullets missing, and he loaded it into the gun, smiling as he did. "Those Covenant sissies are going to have to tango with me before they set one foot in this room."

On the display screen, two of the Covenant cruisers fired again. John watched as plasma streaked across the black of space at high speed, flying towards the hill of the ship.

"Cortana, buy us some time." He demanded.

"I'll do what I can, Chief," Cortana replied. "But you'd better move fast. I'm running out of options."

Cortana was annoyed. Not only because she had been tricked by what was now obviously a Covenant AI, but because she had been defeated by a lesser program. It never would have happened, had she been using her full processing power to help the Chief. Perhaps turning off her emotions would prove sufficient. After doing so, she changed her mind. She wasn't going to be an emotionless robot for this. She was created to handle even more difficult situations that this one, and she knew that she could. She switched her emotions back online.

Now, all she had to do was think. An idea, a chance, anything. In a just under a second, rather slow for her, she had one; The incoming plasma might be disrupted by the moon Basis' nearby planet, Threshold, should she dare to go close enough to its atmosphere. It was a chance, and a rather insane one at that, but Cortana knew what she was doing. She had the control.

Kind of.

* * *

Taking engineering service paths down into the lower levels of a Covenant flagship, Six decided, was not the most fond experience that he had encountered in his days. The paths were dark, and turning on his night vision somehow made it even worse. What was night vision good for if not for sight in the dark? Even more unbearable was the fact that he had to make sure he wasn't walking directly into the Engineer clung to his shoulder. However, he really couldn't complain. The service tunnels were helping them get around what were sure to be masses of Covenant, and considering that the Spartans had maybe a few bullets and their knives between the both of them, the tunnels were the preferred route.

He could feel the ship vibrating as Cortana returned fire at the cruisers. He could imagine the blasts of plasma leaving the cannons burning white-hot. He thought about the crew back on the bridge. They had only been gone for maybe three minutes, but he felt something. A sense of impending doom, if nothing else.

"How does it look back there? Everyone still alive?" Six radioed over his communicator.

"Yeah, but there's a big problem." Locklear replied. "According to Cortana, she can't fire the cannons."

"Are you sure? I could have sworn that I could hear them-"

"Nada. That sound that you heard was the sound of the guns slowly frying themselves. They're useless without some sort of grav-"

"No need to report our problems, Locklear, I'm perfectly capable of doing such even in the most difficult situations." Cortana said over the com.

"Then I would assume we're doing fine." Six said sarcastically. The Engineer chirped.

She sighed heavily, a mix between a deep exhale and an activated groan. "Far from it. On each turret, the Covenant use artificial gravity control to shape and guide their charges of plasma. It acts basically as a sophisticated focusing lens. The problem is, something has already been in all of the directories and deleted the software used for our focusing lens." She said, her voice building with cool anger the more she spoke. "I swear that when I catch this guerrilla Covenant AI, I'll erase it line by line!"

"Any plans?" John asked.

"I'm down to one last option. Have you reached the couplings yet?"

"Almost." John replied.

"Alright. Be careful. Your and Six's suits are breached. Neither of you can function in a compromised atmosphere."

The Engineer chirped frantically, as if it was trying to say something. It floated to the end of the tunnel and hit a button on the wall. The narrow door leading out shot open, revealing to the Spartans an open corridor when they reached the end.

"How close are we?" Six asked. When Hom cracked his visor, parts of his HUD stopped working. She may have been helping them, but it confused him as to why she did that if her original plan was to ask them for alliance in the first place.

"We're getting close." John replied. "Watch your motion tracker."

Six looked down to the left hand corner of his visor. There sat said motion tracker, and at the moment it was clear of hostiles. A pair of dark red dots appeared at the top of the tracker, then passed over them. By the shade of red, they appeared to be below the Spartans' feet. As long as they didn't run into too much resistance, they would not have a tough time gutting what did stand in their way. The Engineer snaked back up and wrapped itself around Six's arm and shoulder, bubbling and squeaking lightly.

An enormous and close explosion vibrated the floor beneath them. As Six went to take another step, his foot missed the floor. He looked down as he tripped... No, sideways. He waved his arms. The gravity was disabled.

"Dammit." Six said. He grabbed a pipe on the side of the wall, John doing the same on the other side of the hallway but with one hand instead of both. He could kind of twitch his shoulder now, but moving it wasn't an option.

As they came up on an intersection between another corridor and an elevator shaft, John stopped.

"There are two paths, but only one way down." John said simply, and he pushed himself towards the elevator shaft. Six removed his hands from the pipe and pushed towards it as well, close behind his friend. He swam into the elevator door, eager to press forward, and looked down. Junk filled the shaft, bits of alien scrap and broken weaponry floating in the air below.

The Engineer released its hold on Six's shoulder once more, floating over to a tiny control panel on the wall. It tapped several buttons, and a blast door at the bottom of the shaft, which Six had believed to be the floor, slid into two pieces and moved apart, sighing as metal scraped metal. It looked at John, then clung to his bad shoulder. He winced under his helmet, but he didn't care too much. It didn't know what the injury was.

Funny how the creature didn't care what or who _they_ were, either. Didn't it know that their races were enemies in war? It was clearly intelligent and sentient, and could communicate. Maybe it didn't know. Or maybe it simply didn't care.

Maybe all that the Engineer wanted was to do its job.

* * *

** Again, I'm sorry about the long wait. Chapter after this one will bee out in the next few days.**

**I'm getting a PS4 ahhh I'm so excited! I have Infamous: Second Son sitting on my shelf and I can't pay it until the console comes in the mail next week! Next gen! Whoop whoop!**

**Have a good day, Wolfgang.**

**~Husky**


	47. A Second Chance (Part 1)

**It's hard to believe it's already almost been a year. Ten months, just about. Ten months since I first decided to sit down and start writing on this website. One hundred and forty two thousand three hundred and thirty one words. Seventy two total chapters. A decent following. It's incredible to think about after such a long time. I remember submitting the first chapter to this story and thinking "_Fuck, what happens next?_" because I had no idea what would follow.**

** Luckily, my brain ran ahead of my ambition, and I decided to do what I did. For a first story, I'm proud of it. People seemed to like it a lot. But then I wrote less frequently, and less people sent in reviews, and my stupid ass thought that I was lacking. So I just kind of... stopped. For months I let this story sit. Waiting. Brewing. I had a plan with this whole thing, and with the chapters as of late, it was scrapped with the opportunity to divert from the Canon.**

**I disappointed myself with what I had come up with. I didn't like Hom. I liked the idea of the Enclave, but the way that it was executed was poor; it would have been better had I not put them on the back burner. I wanted Clancy to be a bigger character. I wanted... so much more.**

**Y'know, it's funny. That's exactly why I'm writing this now.**

_**Six will get the story that I wanted him to have.**_

**Starting on the twenty seventh of February, 2015, tomorrow as of this writing, this story is being rebooted. In its entirety. **

**There's going to be much variation in how Six acts; still a bit of a wise cracking character, but more professional, a variation of the original. John will be closer to canon, and as serious as he's always been. The Enclave will still be in the story, but playing a more significant role. No more of that alliance and telekinesis hocus pocus, either. Clancy will play a heavier role as well, as I had originally planned. Hom? Gone. As I did, this new, rebooted story will follow the story of the Human-Covenant war, including Halo: Reach (obviously), Halo CE, the Eric Nylund novel First Strike, Halo 2, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and beyond. ****Haha, unless 343 fucks up the story. Then I'm going off Canon for SURE.**

**Get ready, everyone, both Wolfgang and otherwise. ****There's going to be a hell of a lot more bloodshed before Six and John get put down for good.**

_**~With a smile on my face, **__**Husky.**_


	48. A Second Chance (Part 2)

**I'll post the new and improved chapter one as a brand new story tomorrow (the 28th) afternoon! Sorry, this is taking a bit longer than I had originally expected. Not only have I scrapped every word, or close to it, not to mention increase the chapter's original size, so my timer on perfection had been a bit... strained.**

**Trust me; I'll make it work. I always have. Kind of.**

**~Husky**


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